Abstract
Objectives
Handgrip strength is considered a vital and reliable measure of comprehensive physical
assessments, whereas the association of handgrip strength with overall mortality risk
among Chinese adults was less studied. We prospectively investigated the association
between handgrip strength and all-cause mortality among Chinese middle-aged and older
people based on data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS).
3CHARLS: China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study.
Design
Longitudinal cohort study.
Methods
Grip strength was assessed for both hands by a dynamometer. Odds ratios (ORs)
4ORs: odds ratios.
and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs)
5CIs: confidence intervals.
were estimated applying logistic regression models with adjustments for age, body
mass index, ethnicity, education level, annual household income, marital status, drinking,
smoking, physical activity, and medical insurance among men and women. Deaths were
ascertained by each follow-up survey in which the household member who lived with
the participants were inquired.Results
Over an average follow-up period of approximately 8 years among the screened 11,618
participants ≥45 years old, 1290 deaths were documented. The age range was 45–93 for
men and 45–96 for women. Greater handgrip strength was associated with a lower overall
mortality risk, with adjusted ORs (comparing with extreme tertiles) of 0.47 (95 %
CI: 0.35–0.64; P-trend<0.001) in men and 0.51 (95 % CI: 0.24–1.08; P-trend = 0.059) in women. Such inverse association seemed stronger among younger men
(OR = 0.29, 95 % CI: 0.18–0.45), compared with the older men (OR = 0.49, 95 % CI:
0.33–0.73; P-interaction = 0.023).
Conclusions
Handgrip strength was inversely associated with all-cause mortality risk, especially
among the younger men. Further investigations are warranted to elucidate the underlying
mechanism.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 14, 2022
Accepted:
August 12,
2022
Received in revised form:
August 10,
2022
Received:
April 21,
2022
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.