Chronic disease statuses are associated with muscle wasting and weakness which is one of the key issues of falling down and disability among middle-age and elderly population. Muscle weakness among elderly population is an important public health and clinical issue in the world-wide. This study is to evaluate the association between processing of chronic disease status, grip strength (GS) and sarcopenia among middle-age and elderly population in Taiwan.
We conducted the community-based health check-up and survey among middle-age and elderly people in Chiayi County, Taiwan. The people more than 50 years old and lived in Chiayi county will be invited to attend this survey every year. General demographic data and lifestyle patterns were measured using standard questionnaire. Disease status, such as all cancers, hypertension, diabetes and stroke among the population were collected from the medical record. The grip strength was measured using digital dynamometers (TKK5101) method.
Total there are 7,560 middle-age and elderly subjects were recruited in this survey. Among these subjects, there are 3,090 males and 4,470 females with the mean age of 70.2 (from 50 to 85 year old). For male, the mean GS was 41.4 +/- 7.4 kg and 32.8 +/- 7.1 kg for 50-65 and greater than 65 YO. For female, the mean GS was 25.6 +/- 4.8 kg and 21.6 +/- 4.8 kg, respectively. In multiple regression, the subjects with stroke and diabetes had lower GS than those subjects without these disease. For example, the male stroke subjects had 3.28 kg lower GS than those without stroke. For diabetes, it was 1.96 and 0.96 kg lower GS than non-diabetes in male and female respectively. In logistic regression, after adjusting for the potential confounders, the odds ratio for lower GS was 1.45 (95% CI 1.24-1.70) for stroke and 1.25 (95% CI 1.16-1.34) for diabetes among male subjects.
From this survey, people with more chronic disease status had lower GS than the healthy subjects. Stroke and diabetes are two important chronic diseases that associated with significantly decreasing of GS. For these subjects, early prevention of muscle weakness and increasing physical activity training should be considered to prevent sacropnea or muscle weakness in later life.