Association Between Relative Handgrip Strength and Osteoporosis in Older Women: The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2014-2018

Background: While handgrip strength is associated with osteoporosis (OS) in the older population and muscle weakness is related to a reduction in bone mineral density, no study has yet assessed the association between relative hand grip strength (RHGS) and OS in the older Korean population. This study assessed the associations between RHGS and OS in Korean older women aged over 60 years.

Methods: We used data of 4,179 older women from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) from 2014 to 2018. We applied binomial logistic regression to identify an association between RHGS and OS while controlling for other covariates such as age; socioeconomic status; smoking behavior; alcohol consumption, laboratory test results; and the prevalence of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, thyroid disease, and obesity.

Results: RHGS was significantly associated with OS of the left hand in older Korean women. RHGS levels 2 and 4 of the left hand showed an inverse association with the prevalence of OS in female participants aged 60-69 years (odds ratio [OR]=0.637; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.452-0.898; p=0.010; and OR=0.496; 95% CI, 0.258-0.956; p=0.036, respectively) but not in those aged over 70 years and in the right hand.

Conclusion: OS was significantly associated with left-hand RHGS in 60-69-year-old women, and the OS risks decreased by approximately 36.3% and 50.4% in women with RHGS levels 2 and 4, respectively. RHGS may be used to predict OS in pre-clinical settings such as public health care institutes.