Simple 'standing up' test can predict mortality
The ability to sit on the floor before rising to a standing position is closely linked to all causes of death, according to a new study.
Researchers found that adults who needed to use a number of aids such as their hands and knees to get off the floor were six times more likely to die than those who didn't.
It supports previous research that found musculo-skeletal fitness is a strong predictor of health in the middle aged and above, the 'Daily Mail' reported.
Tests on more than 2,000 men and women in Brazil were 'remarkably predictive' or mortality rates.
"If a middle-aged or older man or woman can sit and rise from the floor using just one hand - or even better without the help of a hand - they are not only in the higher quartile of musculo-skeletal fitness but their survival prognosis is probably better than that of those unable to do so," study leader Dr Claudio Arazjo, from the Exercise Medicine Clinic in Rio de Janeiro, said.
The test was a simple assessment of the subjects' ability to sit and then rise unaided from the floor. It was performed in 2,002 adults aged between 51 to 80 years.
The subjects were followed-up from the date of the baseline test until the date of death or 31 October 2011, a median follow-up of
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