Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Jul 28.
Published in final edited form as: Mayo Clin Proc. 2019 Dec;94(12):2589–2591. doi: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2019.09.023

TABLE 1.

Sample Characteristics and Association of Muscular Strength (MusS) with Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death

Tertiles of Muscular Strength
Overall Lower Middle Upper P-value
N 8,116 2,696 2,723 2,697
Age, mean (SD), years 42.0 (9.7) 42.5 (9.6) 42.1 (9.7) 41.4 (9.8) <0.0001
Body Mass Index, mean (SD), kg/m2 26.1 (3.7) 27.3 (4.4) 25.8 (3.2) 25.2 (2.9) <0.0001
Meeting Aerobic Guidelines, No. (%)* 3056 (38) 840 (31) 992 (36) 1224 (45) <0.0001
Current Smoking, No. (%) 1315 (16) 493 (18) 464 (17) 358 (13) <0.0001
Heavy Alcohol Drinking, No. (%) 1991 (25) 695 (26) 705 (26) 591 (22) 0.0006
Parental CVD, No. (%)§ 2359 (29) 804 (30) 802 (29) 753 (28) 0.2641
Abnormal ECG, No. (%) 459 (6) 170 (6) 153 (6) 136 (5) 0.1326
Hypertension, No. (%)# 2177 (27) 848 (31) 685 (26) 644 (24) <0.0001
Diabetes, No. (%)** 226 (3) 106 (4) 64 (2) 56 (2) <0.0001
CRF, mean (SD), METs†† 12.4 (2.5) 11.3 (2.3) 12.4 (2.4) 13.4 (2.5) <0.0001
Upper Body Strength:
kg 72.0 (17.7) 62.0 (12.7) 70.3 (12.9) 83.7 (19.3) <0.0001
kg/kg of body weight 0.9 (0.2) 0.7 (0.1) 0.9 (0.1) 1.1 (0.2) <0.0001
Lower Body Strength:
kg 138.1(27.6) 126.2(26.1) 136.8(23.7) 151.2(26.8) <0.0001
kg/kg of body weight 1.7 (0.3) 1.4 (0.2) 1.7 (0.2) 1.9 (0.3) <0.0001
Composite Strength Score 8.6x10−6 (0.91) −0.81 (0.48) −0.05 (0.44) 0.87 (0.79) <0.0001
MusS and Risk of SCD
Tertiles of Muscular Strength Per 1-SD increase##
Lower Middle Upper
No. of Participants 2696 2723 2697 8116
No. of SCD 13 4 6 23
Hazard Ratio (95% CI) Model 1‡‡ 1.00 [ref] 0.28 (0.09- 0.87) 0.43 (0.16-1.14) 0.57 (0.33-0.96)
Hazard Ratio (95% CI) Model 2§§ 1.00 [ref] 0.31 (0.10-0.97) 0.48 (0.17-1.32) 0.61 (0.35-1.05)
Hazard Ratio (95% CI) Model 3‖‖ 1.00 [ref] 0.31 (0.10-0.96) 0.52 (0.19- 1.44) 0.63 (0.36-1.11)

Data are presented as means (standard deviations) unless indicated otherwise. Data were analyzed with chi-square tests (categorical variables) or F-tests (continuous variables).

*

≥500 MET-minutes per week;

current smoking (yes or no);

>14 drinks per week;

§

Parental history of cardiovascular disease (yes or no);

abnormal electrocardiogram (yes or no from resting or exercise ECG);

#

hypertension (yes or no from self-report or measured Blood Pressure ≥140/90 mm Hg);

**

diabetes (yes or no from self-report, taking insulin, or measured glucose ≥126 mg/dL);

††

only in the subsample with CRF data (n=7,669).

‡‡

Adjusted for age;

§§

Adjusted for Model 1 plus body mass index (kg/m2), meeting aerobic physical activity guidelines (≥500 MET-minutes per week), current smoking, and heavy alcohol drinking (>14 drinks per week).

‖‖

Adjusted for Model 2 plus parental history of cardiovascular disease, abnormal electrocardiogram, hypertension, and diabetes (all yes or no).

CI, confidence interval.CRF, cardiorespiratory fitness. CVD, cardiovascular disease.

##

Total muscular strength scores were standardized into z-scores using the sample’s mean and standard deviation of their standardized total strength (combined bodyweight-adjusted leg and chest press) scores. Total muscular strength z-scores had a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1.

HHS Vulnerability Disclosure