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Relationship between low handgrip strength and quality of life in Korean men and women

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Abstract

Purpose

Handgrip strength is strongly related to muscle power in the extremities and is an important index for diagnosing sarcopenia. We evaluated the relationship between handgrip strength and quality of life (QoL) in Korean men and women.

Methods

We analyzed 4620 participants (2070 men and 2550 women) using data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey VI-3 (2015). Low handgrip strength was defined as the lower quartile of handgrip strength in the study population. QoL was evaluated according to the European Quality of Life Scale-Five Dimensions (EQ-5D). The relationship between handgrip strength and QoL was evaluated by multivariate logistic regression analyses.

Results

The odds ratios (ORs) for low handgrip strength significantly increased as age increased for both men and women. The ORs for low handgrip strength increased as body mass index decreased in men. In men with low handgrip strength, the OR for having problems in mobility (OR 1.93, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.25–2.98) and having pain or discomfort (1.53, 1.04–2.24) significantly increased. In women with low handgrip strength, the OR for having problems in mobility (2.12, 1.02–2.87), problems in usual activities (2.04, 1.46–2.85), and having pain or discomfort (1.48, 1.15–1.90) significantly increased.

Conclusion

Men with low handgrip strength had poor QoL on the mobility and pain/discomfort dimensions of EQ-5D, whereas women with low handgrip strength had poor QoL on mobility, usual activities, and pain/discomfort dimensions. Management to improve handgrip strength is necessary for achieving better QoL.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF No: 2017030666), funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology, and supported by Grants from the Korean Health Technology R&D Project (HC15C1322), Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea. The funder had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 88, Olympic-ro-43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul, 05505, South Korea

    Seo Young Kang, Jisun Lim & Hye Soon Park

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  1. Seo Young Kang
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Correspondence to Hye Soon Park.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Kang, S.Y., Lim, J. & Park, H.S. Relationship between low handgrip strength and quality of life in Korean men and women. Qual Life Res 27, 2571–2580 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-018-1920-6

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