Association between grip strength and risk of metabolic multimorbidity in Chinese adults: A prospective cohort study

Increased grip strength was related to reduced risks of metabolic diseases. However, no studies have assessed whether grip strength is associated with the risk of metabolic multimorbidity. This study aimed to address this issue in Chinese adults.

We included 4352 participants without metabolic multimorbidity at baseline from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, who were followed up for 4 years. Metabolic multimorbidity was defined as the coexistence of two or more metabolic diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and hyperuricaemia. Grip strength was measured and normalized by body weight. Cox regression analysis was performed to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs). During follow-up, 791 participants (18 %) developed metabolic multimorbidity. Grip strength was lower in individuals with metabolic multimorbidity than those without (p < 0.001). After multivariate-adjustment, each one standard deviation increase in grip strength was associated with a 10 % reduction in the risk of metabolic multimorbidity (HR: 0.90, 95 % CI: 0.83-0.97), with enhanced associations observed in females and non-drinkers. Stratified analyses showed the HRs for two, three, and four combined metabolic diseases in relation to one standard deviation increase in grip strength were 0.88 (95 % CI: 0.82-0.94), 0.74 (95 % CI: 0.61-0.89), and 0.87 (95 % CI: 0.49-1.52), respectively. Further analysis showed the pronounced association in relation to grip strength was observed for the following types (of metabolic multimorbidity): hypertension-diabetes, diabetes-hyperlipidemia, and hypertension-diabetes-hyperlipidemia.

Higher grip strength is associated with a lower risk of metabolic multimorbidity in middle-aged and older Chinese adults.