The Association of Relative Handgrip Strength with Type 2 Diabetes among Koreans Aged 20 Years or More

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Handgrip strength is a simple, convenient and economic tool measuring the muscle strength. A few studies investigated the relationship between diabetes and handgrip strength but the results are conflicting. This study investigated the association of handgrip strength with diabetes among the adult Koreans. METHODS: This cross-sectional study analyzed data from participants aged 20 years or more (n=8,082) who measured height, weight, handgrip strength and fasting blood glucose in the 2014–2015 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Relative handgrip strength (RHGS) was defined as the sum of the greatest handgrip strengths in both hands divided by body mass index. To investigate the association of diabetes with handgrip strength, complex sample multivariate logistic regression analyses were done after adjusting for socioeconomic (age, sex, education), lifestyle (smoking, alcohol drinking, physical activity, obesity) and comorbid (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, stroke, coronary artery disease, arthritis) variables. Stratified analysis were done according to socioeconomic and lifestyle variables. RESULTS: The prevalence of diabetes was 8.3% (standard error, 0.4). After adjusting for socioeconomic, lifestyle, and comorbid variables, the risk of diabetes increased according to the decrease in sex-specific quartile of RHGS (P(trend)<0.001). Individuals with lower RHGS (per 1 standard deviation decrease) had higher odds of diabetes (adjusted odds ratio, 1.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.3–2.0). Furthermore, lower RHGS was associated with higher odds for diabetes throughout the strata of socioeconomic and lifestyle variables. CONCLUSIONS: This population-based, nationally representative study suggests that lower RHGS is associated with the increased risk of diabetes regardless of socioeconomic and lifestyle variables.