Table 1.
Demographic characteristics of the study participants according to grip strength.
| Variables | Total (n = 6081) |
Normal HGS (n = 5247) |
Poor HGS (n = 834) |
p a |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sex (female) | 3393 (49.7) | 2781 (46.5) | 612 (75.5) | <0.001 |
| age (year), mean (SD) | 41.3 (0.5) | 43.7 (0.4) | 47.6 (1.4) | <0.001 b |
| household income | <0.001 | |||
| 4Q (highest) | 1806 (30.7) | 1664 (32.1) | 142 (19.6) | |
| 3Q | 1653 (29.0) | 1512 (30.2) | 141 (19.5) | |
| 2Q | 1462 (24.5) | 1286 (24.9) | 176 (21.7) | |
| 1Q (lowest) | 1141 (15.7) | 770 (12.8) | 371 (39.1) | |
| education | <0.001 | |||
| college/university | 2190 (41.3) | 2056 (43.8) | 134 (21.0) | |
| high school | 1954 (36.5) | 1793 (38.0) | 161 (24.1) | |
| middle school | 586 (8.4) | 497 (8.2) | 89 (10.2) | |
| elementary school | 1116 (13.7) | 720 (10.0) | 396 (44.6) | |
| poor subjective health | 4175 (69.2) | 3525 (68.0) | 650 (78.4) | 0.484 |
| no muscle exercise | 4637 (77.6) | 3930 (76.1) | 707 (89.1) | 0.018 |
| no aerobic exercise | 3405 (55.0) | 2844 (53.3) | 561 (68.4) | 0.552 |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 0.002 | |||
| underweight (<18.5) | 210 (3.7) | 169 (3.4) | 41 (6.4) | |
| overweight and obese (≥23) | 2103 (35.0) | 1855 (35.6) | 248 (30.5) | |
| HTN | 1492 (19.6) | 1131 (17.4) | 361 (37.8) | 0.141 |
| DM | 573 (7.4) | 429 (6.4) | 144 (14.8) | 0.370 |
| DLP | 1155 (15.4) | 930 (14.5) | 225 (23.0) | 0.073 |
| stroke | 146 (1.9) | 92 (1.3) | 54 (6.0) | 0.007 |
| OA | 698 (8.2) | 494 (6.6) | 204 (20.9) | 0.018 |
Abbreviations: SD, standard deviation; Q, quartile; BMI, body mass index; HGS, handgrip strength; HTN, hypertension; DM, diabetes mellitus; DLP, dyslipidemia; OA, osteoarthritis. Values are presented in numbers and percentages unless stated otherwise. a, p-values were calculated using the chi-squared test. b, p-values were calculated using Student’s t-test. Boldface indicates statistical significance (p < 0.05).