Relationship between handgrip strength and albuminuria in community-dwelling elderly Japanese subjects: the Shika Study

Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to investigate the association between handgrip strength (HGS) and albuminuria in the general population of Japan as per sex and age.

Methods

This population-based, cross-sectional study enrolled 916 Japanese participants aged ≥40 years. Albuminuria was measured and expressed as the urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR). Biochemical, nutritional, and anthropometric profiles as well as HGS were measured using standardised protocols.

Results

Four hundred and thirty-two (47%) of the study participants were men, and 484 were women, with respective mean ages of 62 ± 11 years and 63 ± 11 years. HGS, older age, high body mass index, presence of hypertension or diabetes, and a decreased estimated glomerular filtration rate were correlated with the log-transformed UACR in subjects of both sexes. Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that HGS was independently associated with the log UACR in both, men [beta coefficient −0.43; 95% confidence interval (CI) −0.73, −0.13] and women (beta coefficient −0.50; 95% CI −0.90, −0.10) aged ≥65 years; however, a similar association was not observed in younger participants.

Conclusion

Low HGS was associated with albuminuria in older men and women in Japan.

Keywords:

• Handgrip strength
• albuminuria
• sarcopenia
• frailty
• lifestyle
• nutrition

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the staff of the Health and Welfare Center of Shika town; Satoru Kawabata, the chief of this section; and the staff of the Department of Environmental and Preventive Medicine, Institute of Medical, Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Kanazawa University.

Ethics approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the medical ethics committee of Kanazawa University at which the studies were conducted (approval number 1491) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology (MEXT), number 15H04783.