Handgrip strength and body composition in children and adolescents with acute lymphoblastic leukemia: A cross-section...

We hypothesized that body mass index (BMI) deviation, low muscle mass, and low quality of life (QoL) are associated with low handgrip strength (HGS) in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Thus, our aim was to evaluate the association between BMI, body composition measurements, QoL, and HGS in this population. This was a cross-sectional, multicenter study with patients diagnosed at least 1 mo ago, aged 5 to 18 y. Multiple quantile regression models were performed to evaluate the relationships between the independent variables and HGS. Associations with P < 0.05 were considered significant. Forty-four patients with a median age of 10.1 (8.5-11.9) y were evaluated. The presence of excess weight (overweight and obesity) by BMI/age was 54.5%, and the median HGS and QoL assessment were 14 (9.1-18) kgf and 75 (66.3-81.2) points, respectively. The medians of age, weight, height, arm perimeter, arm muscle area (AMA), arm muscle perimeter (AMP), and BMI/age differed significantly according to the lowest tertile of HGS. There was a strong positive correlation between HGS and the variables arm perimeter (r = 0.703; P < 0.001), AMA (r = 0.814; P < 0.001), and AMP (r = 0.815; P < 0.001). There was no correlation between HGS and the QoL score (r = 0.059; P = 0.704). AMA, AMP, and age showed positive associations in all quantiles analyzed. However, BMI showed a negative association with the HGS outcome in all quantiles. It was possible to understand the influence of AMP and AMA at different levels of HGS, highlighting the importance of body composition and age as factors associated with muscular performance.