The Association between Hand Grip Strength and Cardiovascular Disease Risk: The 2016 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The measurement of grip strength is a simple and inexpensive method to assess all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, as well as the risk of cardiovascular disease. We investigated the association between handgrip strength and the risk of cardiovascular disease in a nationally representative sample.METHODS: Using the Seventh Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2016, we analyzed data obtained from 3,266 adults aged 40–79 years, without cardiovascular disease at their baseline examination (1,421 men and 1,845 women). Relative handgrip strength was used for analysis and was calculated as the sum of the maximal absolute handgrip strength of both hands divided by the body mass index. We performed multivariate linear regression analysis to assess the association between handgrip strength and the 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease. The 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease was calculated using the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) Pooled Cohort atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) Risk Estimator.RESULTS: Multivariate linear regression analysis showed a significant association between handgrip strength and the 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease (%). After adjusting for confounders, an inverse association was observed between handgrip strength and the 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease in adults of both sexes (men −1.29, women −0.58).CONCLUSION: This study investigated the association between relative handgrip strength and the risk of ASCVD using ACC/AHA guidelines. We observed that increased relative handgrip strength may be associated with a better cardiovascular disease risk profile and lower 10-year cardiovascular risk among Korean adults aged 40–79 years.