Division of Epidemiology, Human Genetics, and Environmental Science, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health.
Division of Epidemiology, Human Genetics, and Environmental Science, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health in Austin.
J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2018 Mar 14;73(4):546-551. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glx161.
Decreased muscle strength is strongly associated with future mobility limitations in older adults. Homocysteine is a risk factor for vascular disease and may exacerbate muscle strength decline. The present study aimed to examine the association between homocysteine levels and muscle strength in adults aged 50 years or older.
Data were from 1,101 participants of The Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging between December 2004 and March 2015. Muscle strength was measured using grip strength. Mixed effects linear regression was used to estimate the association between homocysteine and muscle strength in men and women, separately.
Total mean follow-up time was 4.7 ± 3.1 years, range from 0 to 10.1 years. Baseline mean grip strength was 39.9 kg for men and 25.5 kg for women. Grip strength declined over the follow-up time for both men and women. Among women, there was a significant inverse relationship between homocysteine and grip strength, where grip strength declined as a function of increasing homocysteine over time (β = -0.05, p = .031). Among men, an increase of 1 μmol/L in homocysteine was associated with -0.10 kg decrease in grip strength, though not significantly.
In this study of healthy older adults aged 50 years or older, higher homocysteine was related to lower muscle strength in women. This is the first study to characterize the relationship over a long follow-up period. Future research should focus on assessing homocysteine as a marker of physical function decline and translating the relationship into clinical and public health practice.
肌肉力量下降与老年人未来的行动能力受限密切相关。同型半胱氨酸是血管疾病的一个危险因素，可能会加剧肌肉力量下降。本研究旨在探讨成年人中同型半胱氨酸水平与肌肉力量之间的关系。
数据来自于 2004 年 12 月至 2015 年 3 月间参加巴尔的摩纵向老龄化研究的 1101 名参与者。肌肉力量使用握力进行测量。采用混合效应线性回归分别估计男性和女性同型半胱氨酸与肌肉力量之间的关系。
总平均随访时间为 4.7±3.1 年，范围为 0 至 10.1 年。男性的基线平均握力为 39.9kg，女性为 25.5kg。在随访期间，男性和女性的握力均下降。在女性中，同型半胱氨酸与握力之间存在显著的负相关关系，随着同型半胱氨酸随时间的增加，握力呈下降趋势（β=-0.05，p=0.031）。在男性中，同型半胱氨酸每增加 1μmol/L，握力下降 0.10kg，但无统计学意义。
在这项对 50 岁及以上健康老年人的研究中，较高的同型半胱氨酸与女性较低的肌肉力量有关。这是第一项在长期随访期间描述这种关系的研究。未来的研究应集中评估同型半胱氨酸作为身体功能下降的标志物，并将这种关系转化为临床和公共卫生实践。
