Handgrip Strength and Mortality in Elderly Koreans: Evidence From the Korea Longitudinal Study of Ageing

Abstract

<jats:p> Despite substantial research on numerous aspects of health in the elderly, past studies that examined the association between handgrip strength and mortality have been conducted with samples drawn mostly from Caucasian populations, and little is known about whether similar trends are found in non-Western contexts such as Korea. The present study drew data from KLoSA (Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging), a nationally representative sample of middle-aged adults, and followed up for a decade. Results from discrete-time event history analysis of mortality indicated that higher handgrip strength significantly reduces the likelihood of death in both men and women. Men in the highest third of handgrip strength were 53.9% less likely to experience death than those in the lowest third. Women followed a similar pattern: middle and high handgrip strength reduced the odds by 26.4% and 48.3%, respectively. These findings suggest that handgrip strength has a significant impact on elderly mortality and does so in a negatively gradient manner. </jats:p>

Relationship between the Engel Coefficient, Life Satisfaction, and Subjective Health for Senior Citizens in Korea: Moderating Effect of COVID-19

“…Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID- 19) is also considered in the present work. Prior studies have pointed out that COVID-19 has changed daily life because of restrictions due to the risk of infection [15][16][17][18].…”

Associations of Handgrip Asymmetry With Impaired Health-Related Quality of Life Among Older Adults in South Korea: A Cross-Sectional Study Using National Survey Data

“…5,7,8 Handgrip strength has been found to relate to physical function, mortality rate, and health-related quality of life. 3,[7][8][9][10][11][12] However, a prior study found no difference in the health-related quality of life of older women according to HGS, 4 suggesting that differences may exist in the relationship between HGS and health-related quality of life according to sex. The relationship between HGS and health-related quality of life may also vary depending on the subdomains of healthrelated quality of life.…”

Handgrip Strength and Cognitive Function among Elderly Koreans: Insights from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing

“…Furthermore, evidence suggests that psychosocial factors matter for preventing or delaying dementia and AD. In general, the weight of evidence indicates that physical and cognitive functioning in older adults are closely interwoven [40]. Nevertheless, a considerable number of etiologic pathways from handgrip strength, which Clouston et al [2] suggested as one of most effective measures for physical frailty, toward dementia in Korea remain unclear, and an empirical analysis using longitudinal methods is therefore warranted.…”