Association of serum uric acid with handgrip strength and dynapenia in postmenopausal women.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to examine the association of serum uric acid levels with handgrip strength (HGS) and dynapenia in postmenopausal women.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study among 422 participants collected data on age, age at menopause, adiposity, alcohol consumption, body mass index, current smoking status, HGS (measured using a digital dynamometer) and physical activity. Serum levels of creatinine, glucose, glycated hemoglobin, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, thyroid-stimulating hormone and uric acid were evaluated. Women were categorized into quartiles. A directed acyclic graph was designed to identify confounding variables. Multivariable regression analysis was used to assess associations between uric acid with HGS or dynapenia.

RESULTS

Women with hyperuricemia presented significant association with lower HGS (p = 0.00028). After adjusting for potential confounders, the multivariable linear regression to analyze the association between uric acid and HGS showed an inverted U-shaped curve, with quartile 1 (β = -0.54; 95% confidence interval [CI]: -1.50, 0.40), quartile 3 (β = -0.21; 95% CI: -1.20, 0.74) and quartile 4 (β = -1.3; 95% CI: -2.3, -0.37) compared with quartile 2. Serum uric acid levels were significantly associated with HGS (p = 0.036).

CONCLUSIONS

The association between uric acid quartiles with HGS or dynapenia displayed an inverted U-shaped curve. These findings suggest that specific serum uric acid levels within the normal range are associated with better HGS.