At 53, median eyes-closed one-leg stance was 5 s for men and 4 s for women, and being unable to do it went with far higher mortality
Does balance in midlife predict survival?
The finding
Median balance time was 5 s (IQR 3–10) for men and 4 s (3–7) for women. Against the best fifth, people unable to do the test had a fully adjusted hazard ratio of 9.61 (5.32–17.39); the lowest fifth, 2.53 (1.48–4.33).
- Authors
- Cooper R, Strand BH, Hardy R, Patel KV, Kuh D
- Published
- BMJ 348:g2219 · 2014
- Evidence
- Read in the primary source; numbers checked.
- Source
- doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g2219
How it was studied
MRC National Survey of Health and Development: 1,355 men and 1,411 women born in 1946, tested at 53, with deaths to age 66 (177 deaths). Balance was the longest eyes-closed one-leg stance, up to 30 s.
The numbers
A composite of grip, chair rise and balance, lowest against highest fifth, gave 3.68 (2.03–6.68). The authors found some evidence that balance time was more strongly linked to mortality than the other two measures.
What it does not show
Observational; one birth year, British; a 30 s cap. The "unable" group is small and includes people who were unwell at testing.
What Longstanding does with it
This is a representative sample, unlike Springer’s screened volunteers. Its median at 53 sits below the app’s 50–59 median of 7.4 s, so a typical 53-year-old may score around the 30th–40th percentile in the app. The site says so on the single-leg page.