Association of Grip Strength with All-Cause Mortality and Cause-Specific Mortality: Analysis of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2006–2016)

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Grip strength has been found to be closely related to mortality and disease morbidity. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between grip strength and mortality in middle aged and elderly Koreans.METHODS: Study subjects were selected from the participants of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing from 2006 to 2016. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to analyze the association between grip strength, all-cause mortality, and cause-specific mortality according to age and sex, after adjusting for covariates.RESULTS: The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for all-cause mortality was decreased in the high grip strength group (male HR=0.580, 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.478–0.704; female HR=0.601, 95% CI=0.483–0.747) compared to the low grip strength group in both sexes. In male, cardiovascular mortality (middle group HR=0.453, 95% CI=0.278–0.738; high group HR=0.538, 95% CI=0.332–0.871) and cancer mortality (middle group HR=0.697, 95% CI=0.514–0.945; high group HR=0.589, 95% CI=0.427–0.812) were significantly lower in the middle and high grip strength groups compared to the low grip strength group. The HR for mortality due to stroke in male decreased significantly according to grip strength, but this became nonsignificant after adjusting for covariates. No association between cause-specific mortality and grip strength was found in female.CONCLUSION: In this study, grip strength was inversely associated with all-cause mortality, with similar effects on cause-specific mortality due to heart disease and cancer in male. Grip strength is a useful predictor of health status, and further studies are needed to evaluate its clinical relevance in Koreans.