Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess whether hand grip strength (HGS) could be an effective indicator to estimate other physical fitness parameters in middle-aged and older men using large population data. Data for this study were obtained from the National Fitness Center operated by the Korea Institute of Sport Science (n = 429 572). The following were excluded from this study: women aged 44 years or younger (n = 238 257), repeated measurement data (n = 130 466), and errors or missing data (n = 6 497). The final sample included 54 352 participants (27 878 middle-aged and 26 474 older-aged). The highest overall physical fitness grade among participants was 5.6% (4.7%, middle-aged men; 6.6%, older men), the lowest was 52.1% (59.0%, middle-aged men, 43.9%, older men). HGS was positively correlated with flexibility (r = 0.183), muscular endurance (r = 0.354), and power (r = 0.463), in middle-aged men. In older men, flexibility (r = 0.227), and 30SCS (r = 0.385), were positively correlated; Timed Up and Go (r = −0.405), and F8W (r = −0.433), were negatively correlated. All physical fitness parameters were significantly higher in participants with normal HGS than those with low HGS. Our finding suggests that HGS is a predictive method for physical fitness variables and a useful biomarker for global public health.
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