People who have a slow walking pace, a weak grip or muscle loss are more likely to suffer a stroke, a study suggests.
The findings could help doctors develop a low-cost risk assessment to identify patients who would benefit most from intervention, such as drugs or lifestyle advice, researchers say.
The experts, from Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Hangzhou, China, analysed data on 482,699 UK adults aged 37 to 73.
During an average follow-up of almost 14 years, participants suffered 11,814 strokes, including 9,449 clot-caused ischemic strokes and 2,029 bleeding, or hemorrhagic, strokes.
Those who said they walked at a slow pace were 64 per cent more likely to suffer a stroke, compared with those who said they had a brisk pace.
And those with a weak grip strength, as determined by a handheld grip test, had a 7 per cent higher chance of having a stroke, according to findings published in the medical journal Stroke.
Meanwhile, those with muscle loss, or low muscle strength, had a 30 per cent higher risk of any type of stroke, rising to 41 per cent for hemorrhagic stroke.
Study author Dr Lu-sha Tong, a neurologist, said medics often see that patients in clinical practice with lower levels of physical function tend to have worse overall health outcomes.
People who said they walked at a slow pace were 64 per cent more likely to suffer a stroke, compared with those who said they had a brisk pace.
But she warned these indicators are not currently routinely incorporated into stroke risk assessment.
Dr Tong added: ‘Walking pace may be a good sign of overall health.
‘Our findings suggest that quick, standard screenings for physical function, such as grip strength and walking pace, may help us identify adults with higher risk of stroke, potentially supporting earlier prevention strategies.’
Maeva May, director of research for the Stroke Association, said: ‘This research adds to what we’re beginning to understand about how our physical health connects to stroke risk.
‘The fact that something as simple as walking pace or grip strength might one day help to identify people at risk of stroke is incredibly encouraging.
‘It could facilitate vital earlier and more targeted conversations about prevention with people who might benefit most.
‘Findings like this illustrate the desperate need to invest in stroke research, which is chronically underfunded with less than 1 per cent of the total UK research budget spent on the condition.
‘Yet research like this has real potential to make a life-changing difference to the 100,000 people who have a stroke every year in the UK.’