See editorial commentary page on 271 Background: Muscle strength has been suggested as a cardiovascular marker. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between hand grip strength and biomarkers of cardiovascular disease in the Korean population. Methods: A total of 9,083 participants aged 20-80 years from Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2015-2016 were investigated. Results: Among men, both relative and dominant hand grip strength showed a positive association with diastolic blood pressure in those aged 65-80 years (95% confidence interval, P-value of dominant and relative hand grip strength: β=0.06, 0.01; P<0.05). Among women, relative and dominant hand grip strength showed a positive relationship to diastolic blood pressure in those aged 20-64 years (β=0.06, 0.01; P<0.001). Body mass index was positively associated with dominant hand grip strength in younger women (β=0.18, P<0.05), whereas it was positively associated with relative hand grip strength in all sex and age groups. High-sensitivity C-reactive protein showed a negative association with relative and dominant hand grip strength in all women, although the same association was observed only in younger men. Diabetes was inversely related to hand grip strength in younger women and men. Conclusion: Increased hand grip strength may be associated with lower C-reactive protein in women and with less risk of diabetes in the Korean adult population. Further prospective studies are needed for the determination of causality between cardiometabolic markers and hand grip strength.

BackgroundWe examined the relationship between vitamin D status and health-related quality of life, and explored other related factors in the general Korean population.MethodsWe used data from the 2007–2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey on 14,104 adults, aged 20–49 years, who had consented to serum vitamin D measurement and answered health-related quality of life questions. EuroQol-5 was used for measurement. Serum vitamin D levels were measured at intervals of 0–9.99, 10–19.99, 20–29.99, and ≥30 ng/mL.ResultsParticipants with higher serum vitamin D (serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D) levels were significantly less likely to report problems with depression and anxiety. After adjustment for age, gender, income level, education level, marital status, alcohol consumption, smoking status, and the existence of depressive disorders, the odds ratio for reporting a problem with depression and anxiety was 0.60 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.39–0.91). The odds ratio for the prevalence of any problem was 0.69 (95% CI, 0.53–0.89) before adjustment, but was not statistically significant after adjustment. No significant associations were observed for problems with mobility, self-care, usual activity, or pain and discomfort.ConclusionThis is the first study to examine the associations between vitamin D and health-related quality of life for the general Korean population. Vitamin D status was not significantly associated with the dimensions of EuroQol-5 except for depression and anxiety problems.

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