Association between muscle strength and cardiometabolic multimorbidity risk among middle-aged and older Chinese adults: a nationwide longitudinal cohort study

Cardiometabolic multimorbidity (CM) is emerging as a global health challenge. This study investigated the potential impact of muscle strength on the risk of CM in middle-aged and older Chinese adults.

In total, 7610 participants were identified from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Muscle strength was measured by absolute, relative grip strength (normalized for body mass index) and chair-rising time which were classified into three categories according to tertiles stratified by gender. Cox proportional hazards models were adopted to evaluate the effect of muscle strength on CM.

During follow-up, 235(3.76%) participants from none cardiometabolic diseases (CMD), 140 (19.23%) from diabetes, 119 (21.17%) from heart disease, and 22 (30.56%) from stroke progressed to CM. In participants who had low relative grip strength, CM was more likely to occur in individuals with heart disease at baseline (HR: 1.89, 95%CIs: 1.10 to 3.23). Those with high chair-rising time had a higher risk of CM than those with low chair-rising time in the individuals with diabetes (HR: 1.85, 95%CIs:1.20 to 2.86) and with heart disease (HR: 1.67, 95%CIs:1.04 to 2.70). However, we did not observe an association between muscle strength and CM in participants without CMD or with stroke at baseline.

In Chinese middle-aged and older adults, low relative grip strength was associated with a higher risk of CM in individuals with heart disease, while high chair-rising time was associated with a higher risk of CM in individuals with diabetes or heart disease.