Genetics of hand grip strength in mid to late life

Abstract

Hand grip strength (GS) is a predictor of mortality in older adults and is moderately to highly heritable, but no genetic variants have been consistently identified. We aimed to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with GS in middle-aged to older adults using a genome-wide association study (GWAS). GS was measured using handheld dynamometry in community-dwelling men and women aged 55-85 from the Hunter Community Study (HCS, N = 2088) and the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study (Sydney MAS, N = 541). Genotyping was undertaken using Affymetrix microarrays with imputation to HapMap2. Analyses were performed using linear regression. No genome-wide significant results were observed in HCS nor were any of the top signals replicated in Sydney MAS. Gene-based analyses in HCS identified two significant genes (ZNF295, C2CD2), but these results were not replicated in Sydney MAS. One out of eight SNPs previously associated with GS, rs550942, located near the CNTF gene, was significantly associated with GS (p = 0.005) in the HCS cohort only. Study differences may explain the lack of consistent results between the studies, including the smaller sample size of the Sydney MAS cohort. Our modest sample size also had limited power to identify variants of small effect. Our results suggest that similar to various other complex traits, many genetic variants of small effect size may influence GS. Future GWAS using larger samples and consistent measures may prove more fruitful at identifying genetic contributors for GS in middle-aged to older adults.

Grip Strength as an Indicator of Health-Related Quality of Life in Old Age—A Pilot Study

“…Especially during old age people are vulnerable to the adverse consequences of sarcopenia and osteoporosis, i.e., frailty, increased risk of falls, disability, cognitive impairment depression and even mortality [ 25 , 27 , 55 , 64 ]. The decrease of muscle mass and muscle strength is caused by genetic factors [ 54 ] but also by lifetime physical activity [ 55 , 65 ], and occupational position [ 66 ]. In general the maintenance of muscle strength, physical fitness and physical well-being is an important factor to preserve independence and consequently a high quality of life during old age.…”

“…Grip strength has become a popular indicator of physical functioning in surveys [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 54 , 55 , 56 ]. Measurements were performed with both hands using a hand-hold calibrated dynamometer (JAMAR, Hatfield, PA, USA).…”

A multilevel analysis of health-related physical fitness. The Portuguese sibling study on growth, fitness, lifestyle and health

“…For example, the MSTN K153R polymorphism is associated with the ability to produce peak power during muscle contractions, as assessed with jump tests, in young non-athletic men [ 64 ]. We only found one study that tried to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with GS in middle-aged to older adults using GWAS [ 65 ]. However, no genome-wide significant results were observed.…”

Cross‐sectional relations of whole‐blood miRNA expression levels and hand grip strength in a community sample

“…In addition, genetic factors contribute substantially to the variability in grip strength (Frederiksen et al ., ), suggesting that genetic studies may identify biologically relevant pathways important to muscle strength and aging. However, few genomewide association studies have been conducted of grip strength (Chan et al ., ; Matteini et al ., ) with one identifying a promising common variant in a chromosomal region linked to muscle repair (Matteini et al ., ).…”