Background: Heart rate variability (HRV) provides indices related to all types of risks for death, increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, especially in elderly. Obesity and grip are related to diseases, thus decrease elderly healthy life. However, there is no definitive link between HRV and muscle strength and obesity. We conducted a cross-sectional study to determine whether grip strength and obesity are associated with HRV in elderly, community-dwelling Chinese individuals.Method: Our study population consisted of residents of Township Central Hospital of Chadian, Tianjin, China. We measured short term HRV, grip strength, and body mass index (BMI). The HRV measures were transformed to the natural log to normalize the distribution and we used logistic regression to explore the relationship.Results: A total of 534 participants over the age of 60 (200 men, mean age 69.2±6.0) had complete data at the baseline and were included in the analysis. Compared with the isolated-obesity group and isolated-low-grip-strength group, the group with concurrent obesity and low grip strength has a stronger relation with LF n.u.[0.94(0.90-0.98)], ln(LF) [0.50(0.29-0.95)], and ln(LF/HF) [0.41(0.20-0.83)].Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that low HRV is associated with concurrent low grip strength and obesity in older adults, rather than isolated low grip strength or isolated obesity. These results may provide a reference for early screening of cardiac autonomic function disorders in patients with potential heart disease in clinic, thus contributing indirectly to the prevention or rehabilitation of cardiovascular disease. It also provides a new idea for further mechanism research.Clinical trial registry Our research was registered on Research Registry website (URL: http://www.chictr.org.cn/index.aspx ), the registry number was ChiCTR1800016308.
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