Scientists from the University of California in San Francisco found that among men and women, handgrip strength is associated with measures of cognitive brain health.
The research is published in JAMA Network Open and was conducted by Kate A. Duchowny et al.
In the study, the team examined the association between handgrip strength and dementia, reduced cognition, and poorer neuroimaging outcomes among U.K. Biobank participants aged 39 to 73 years enrolled from 2006 to 2010.
A total of 190,406 adults were evaluated.
The team found that a 5-kg decrement in handgrip strength was associated with lower IQ scores in men and women.
For men and women, a 5-kg decrement in handgrip strength was associated with worse odds of correctly responding to a memory task.
In men and women, a 5-kg decrement in handgrip strength was associated with greater white matter hyperintensity volume.
White matter hyperintensities are lesions in the brain that show up as areas of increased brightness.
In addition, a 5-kg decrement in handgrip strength was associated with an increased risk for incident dementia, particularly for men.
There was no big association observed between the Alzheimer’s disease genetic risk score and handgrip strength.
These findings add to a small but growing body of research indicating that the association between muscle strength and dementia may be due to vascular mechanisms.
They also suggest that interventions designed to increase muscle strength, particularly among middle-aged adults, may hold promise for the maintenance of neurocognitive brain health.
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