Handgrip Strength has Declined Among Adults, Particularly Males, from Shanghai Since 2000.

BACKGROUND

Handgrip strength (HGS) is an excellent marker of general strength capacity and health among adults. We aimed to calculate temporal trends in HGS for adults from Shanghai between 2000 and 2020.

METHODS

Adults aged 20-59 years from Shanghai, China, were included. Representative cross-sectional HGS data (n = 127,756) were collected in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2014, and 2020. HGS was measured using isometric dynamometry and was adjusted for body size (i.e., height-squared). Trends in mean adjusted HGS were calculated using general linear models with adjustments for age, sex, location, occupation, blood pressure, and exercise time. Trends in distributional characteristics were described visually and calculated as the ratio of coefficients of variation (CVs).

RESULTS

We found a significant, small decline in mean adjusted HGS (effect size (ES) [95%CI]: -0.21 [-0.22, -0.20]) since the year 2000. Negligible temporal differences were found across age, location, and occupation groups, with a 2.8-fold greater decline for men than for women. Overall, distributional variability declined negligibly (ratio of CVs [95% CI]: 0.92 [0.91, 0.93]). We also observed a negligible trend (ES < 0.20) in distributional asymmetry among adults with low adjusted HGS (below the 25th percentile) and a small decline (ES = 0.20-0.49) in adults with high adjusted HGS (above the 75th percentile).

CONCLUSIONS

There was a recent small decline in adjusted HGS for adults from Shanghai, which was greater for men than for women and nonuniform across the population. A decline in adjusted HGS may represent a decline in the general/functional health of the population.