Lower relative handgrip strength is significantly associated with a higher prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in adults

Purpose: In previous studies, there were debates on the association between handgrip strength (HGS) and prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Since body weight is associated with both HGS and prevalence of metabolic syndrome, whether HGS is corrected with body weight (relative HGS) or not (absolute HGS) can directly influence outcome of the study. Therefore, this study analyzed the relationship between HGS and prevalence of metabolic syndrome using both relative and absolute HGS. Methods: A total of 1009 Korean adults (488 men and 521 women) were analyzed. Participants were categorized into three groups according to HGS levels. Logistic regression analysis was used to calculate odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of metabolic syndrome associated with both relative and absolute HGS. Results: Lower absolute HGS was associated with lower prevalence of having abnormal blood pressure (OR: 0.60, 95% CI: 0.37-0.97) and glucose levels (OR: 0.54, 95% CI: 0.34-0.88) in men. However, no association was found between absolute HGS and prevalence of metabolic syndrome. However, a significant inverse association was found between relative HGS and prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Compared with participants in the highest tertile, those in the lowest tertile of relative HGS had 2.52 times (95% CI: 1.43-4.46) and 5.01 times (95% CI: 1.66-15.08) higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome in men and women, respectively. Conclusion: Lower relative HGS but not absolute HGS was associated with higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Our study showed that there are evident discrepancies in the association between HGS and prevalence of metabolic syndrome whether HGS is corrected by body weight or not.