Association between handgrip strength and the risk of new-onset metabolic syndrome: a population-based cohort study

OBJECTIVES: A lower relative handgrip strength (HGS) may disrupt metabolic homeostasis and then lead to metabolic syndrome (MetS). There is a paucity of longitudinal studies to examine whether relative HGS at baseline is linked to incident MetS. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to explore the association between relative HGS and new-onset MetS. DESIGN: This is an observational and longitudinal research. A nationally representative sample of population in China. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 3350 subjects without MetS were selected for analysis in the present study. Data are from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2011–2015). OUTCOME MEASURES: We calculated the relative HGS by dividing the HGS by body weight. Participants were divided into gender-specific quartiles. We estimated HRs for MetS and its components using Cox proportional hazard models according to the relative HGS categories. RESULTS: After multiple adjustment, the risk of MetS increased with the lower quartile of relative HGS in both sexes. Using the highest quartile (Q4) as a reference, the HR for quartile Q3–1 was 1.49 (0.95, 2.34), 1.67 (1.08, 2.59) and 1.76 (1.12, 2.78), respectively, in men, and 1.14 (0.82, 1.58), 1.30 (1.02, 1.57) and 1.28 (1.03, 1.55), respectively, in women. Additionally, we observed that relative HGS was negatively or inversely associated with the risk of abdominal obesity in both sexes. CONCLUSIONS: The current study demonstrated that relative HGS was inversely and independently associated with an increased risk of MetS and abdominal obesity, suggesting a possible role of relative HGS as a useful and simple index for muscle strength in the prediction of occurrence of MetS.