Effects of Handgrip Strength on 10-Year Cardiovascular Risk among the Korean Middle-Aged Population: The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2014

Handgrip strength is a simple, inexpensive health status indicator and can be used to assess mortality rate and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. This study used data from the Sixth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2014) to determine the effective use of handgrip strength to predict CVD risk. We analyzed data from 2427 adults aged from 40 to 64 years without CVD at baseline. Relative handgrip strength was calculated as the sum of the maximal absolute handgrip strength of both hands divided by body mass index, and the 10-year risk of CVD was calculated using the Framingham risk score. We performed logistic regression analysis to assess the association between handgrip strength and 10-year CVD risk. Results showed that CVD risk increased with age (95% CI: 1.19-1.33, p < 0.001). Men were 38.05 times more likely to develop CVD than women (95% CI: 15.80-91.58, p < 0.001). Every increase by 1 in handgrip strength reduced the 10-year CVD risk by 1.76 times (95% CI: 1.58-3.71, p < 0.001), and when waist-to-height ratio was <0.50, the CVD risk decreased by 3.3 times (95% CI: 0.16-0.56, p < 0.001). Developing specific modifications and improving lifestyle habits that could lead to increased handgrip strength and reduced obesity, which could prevent CVD, is recommended.