Association of Hand Grip Strength with Mild Cognitive Impairment in Middle-Aged and Older People in Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study

Ya-Li Jin; Lin Xu; Chao-Qiang Jiang; Wei-Sen Zhang; Jing Pan; Feng Zhu; Tong Zhu; Graham Neil Thomas; Tai-Hing Lam

doi:10.3390/ijerph19116464

Association of Hand Grip Strength with Mild Cognitive Impairment in Middle-Aged and Older People in Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 26;19(11):6464. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19116464.

Authors

Ya-Li Jin¹, Lin Xu², Chao-Qiang Jiang¹, Wei-Sen Zhang¹, Jing Pan¹, Feng Zhu¹, Tong Zhu¹, Graham Neil Thomas³, Tai-Hing Lam⁴

Affiliations

¹ Guangzhou Twelfth People's Hospital, Guangzhou 510620, China.
² School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China.
³ Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.
⁴ School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

Abstract

Background: Lower hand grip strength has been linked to cognitive impairment, but studies in older Chinese are limited. We examined the association of hand grip strength with cognitive function in a large sample of older Chinese. Methods: 6806 participants aged 50+ years from the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study (GBCS) were included. Relative grip strength was calculated by absolute handgrip strength divided by the body mass index (BMI). Cognitive function was assessed using the Delayed Word Recall Test (DWRT, from 0 to 10) and the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE, from 0 to 30), with higher scores indicating better cognition. Results: After adjusting for multiple potential confounders, lower absolute grip strength and relative grip strength were significantly associated with lower DWRT (all p < 0.05) in all participants. No significant interaction effects between sex and handgrip strength on cognitive impairment were found (p from 0.27 to 0.87). No significant association between handgrip strength and total MMSE scores was found in the total sample or by sex (p from 0.06 to 0.50). Regarding the individual components of MMSE, lower absolute and relative grip strength were significantly associated with lower scores of the recall memory performance in all participants (p from 0.003 to 0.04). Conclusion: We have shown for the first time a positive association of grip strength with recall memory performance, but not general cognitive function in older people, which warrants further investigation.

Keywords: Delayed Word Recall Test; hand grip strength; mild cognitive impairment.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Biological Specimen Banks
Cognition
Cognitive Dysfunction* / psychology
Cohort Studies
Hand Strength*
Humans
Middle Aged

Grants and funding

The Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study was funded by The University of Hong Kong Foundation for Educational Development and Research (SN/1f/HKUF-DC; C20400.28505200), the Health Medical Research Fund (Grant number: HMRF/13143241) in Hong Kong; the Guangzhou Public Health Bureau (201102A211004011); the Guangzhou Science and Technology Bureau, Guangzhou, China (2002Z2-E2051; 2012J5100041; 2013J4100031); the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong (2015A030313891); and the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFC0907100).