Eun Young Choi
Department of Family Medicine, Dankook Univeristy Hospital, Dankook University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea
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 soci-
oeconomic (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 (Ptrend<0.001). Individuals with lower RHGS (per 1
standard deviation decrease) had higher odds of dia-
betes (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.
Korean J Health Promot 2019;19(2):77-83
Keywords: Hand strength, Diabetes mellitus, type 2,
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