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The longitudinal relation between smoking and muscle strength in healthy adults
Maarten O Kok1, Trynke Hoekstra, Jos W R Twisk
1Department of Health Sciences and the EMGO Institute of Health and Care Research, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Aim:
To assess longitudinally whether smoking tobacco is related to muscle strength in healthy adults and to assess the influence of lifestyle covariates on this relation.
Methods:
Data were obtained from the observational Amsterdam Growth and Health Longitudinal Study, with four repeated measurements at the ages of 21 (n = 181), 27 (n = 144), 32 (n = 426) and 36 (n = 373) years. Knee muscle strength (KMS) was measured at an angle of 300° per second. Smoking and the covariates physical activity and dietary intake were assessed with a questionnaire. Other covariates included physical fitness and body fat percentage. Cardiopulmonary fitness was assessed with a maximal running test and body fatness with skinfold measurements. Sex-specific longitudinal analyses were carried out using generalized estimating equations.
Results:
In men and women, an inverse relationship between smoking tobacco and KMS was found. Smoking 100 g of tobacco a week resulted in a reduction of 2.9% in KMS in men and a reduction of 5.0% in women. This relation existed largely independently of lifestyle covariates.
Conclusion:
This study indicates that smoking is inversely related to skeletal muscle strength in healthy adults.
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