Abstract
Purpose :
To explore associations between the hand grip strength (HGS) as indicator of general health and ocular parameters and diseases.
Methods :
The population-based Ural Eye and Medical Study included 5899 (80.5%) out of 7328 eligible individuals who underwent systemic and ophthalmological examinations including dynamometric HGS measurements.
Results :
The study included 5381 (90.4%) individuals (age:58.6±10.6 years;range:40-94 years) with HGS measurements. In multivariable analysis, a higher HGS correlated with better visual acuity (beta:0.05;P<0.001), longer ocular axial length (beta:0.02;P=0.008), higher intraocular pressure (beta:0.03;P=0.001) and lower prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (beta:-0.02;P=0.006) after adjusting for younger age, male sex, Russian ethnicity, higher body height and waist-hip ratio, higher educational level, lower number of smoking package years, lower self-reported salt consumption, higher degree of processing meat, higher physical total score, higher serum concentration of hemoglobin, higher prothrombin index, lower leucocyte cell count, lower prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, lower depression score, and lower prevalence of arthritis and previous falls. In that model, HGS was not correlated with the prevalence of any cataract (P=0.24), nuclear cataract (P=0.35), cortical cataract (P=0.88), subcapsular posterior cataract (P=0.87), any glaucoma (P=0.57), open-angle glaucoma (P=0.89), or angle-closure glaucoma (P=0.69).
Conclusions :
In addition to parameters such as lower physical activity, higher depression score and worse general health status, a reduced HGS is associated with visual impairment, shorter axial length, lower intraocular pressure and higher prevalence of diabetic retinopathy. HGS dynamometry or a handshake may give additional clinical information for the ophthalmologist about the general health and some ocular parameters of the patient.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.