TITLE: Greater Handgrip Strength Linked to Lower Risk for Depression in Dose-Reponse Relationship—Longitudinal Study of 115,601 Older Adults From 24 Countries

Thank you Dr. Pope.

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The new issue of British Journal of Psychiatry (2023, vol. 222, #3, pp. 135-142) includes a study: “Dose–response association of handgrip strength and risk of depression: a longitudinal study of 115 601 older adults from 24 countries.”

The authors are Rubén López-Bueno, Joaquín Calatayud, Lars Louis Andersen, José Casaña, Ai Koyanagi, Borja del Pozo Cruz, and Lee Smith.

Here’s how it opens:

Depression is considered a contemporary chronic condition that can impair normal mental and physical functioning; the manifestation of depression varies among individuals, but often involves lack of energy, low mood, sadness, insomnia and an inability to enjoy life.Reference Cui1 The incidence of depression disorders increased by 50% over the period from 1990 to 2017 worldwide, and the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the prevalence of depression compared with pre-pandemic levels.Reference Santomauro, Mantilla Herrera, Shadid, Zheng, Ashbaugh and Pigott2,Reference Liu, He, Yang, Feng, Zhao and Lyu3

Importantly, depression has been observed to increase the risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in middle-aged and older adults.Reference Meng, Yu, Liu, He, Lv and Guo4,Reference Wei, Hou, Zhang, Xu, Xie and Chandrasekar5 It has also been associated with significantly increased risks for hypertension, myocardial infarction, stroke, physical impairment and suicidal attempts, and is one of the leading causes of global disease burden in terms of disability-adjusted life-years, years lived with disability and years of life lost.Reference McLaughlin6,7 Thus, because depression represents a major public health concern, studies aiming at examining preventive factors to tackle the increase in depression are required. In fact, early prevention is estimated to reduce 20% to 25% incident depression in high-income countries, which warrants the implementation of preventive measures.Reference Reynolds, Cuijpers, Patel, Cohen, Dias and Chowdhary8

In this regard, there is a growing body of research examining the association between muscle strength, using handgrip as an estimator, and depression in healthy middle-aged and older adults.Reference Zasadzka, Pieczyńska, Trzmiel, Kleka and Pawlaczyk9,Reference Luo, Yao, Zhang, Ge and Zhang10 Handgrip strength is an easy-to-use, fast and reliable indicator of both sarcopenia (age-related loss of muscle mass) and dynapenia (age-related loss of muscle strength). As both have been associated with depression, the plausibility of a regulatory role of skeletal muscle on brain function affecting this condition exists.Reference Chen, Liu, Woo, Assantachai, Auyeung and Bahyah11–Reference Carvalho, Maes, Solmi, Brunoni, Lange and Husain14 Interestingly, exercise also seems to play a key role in the aforementioned relationships, as it can improve muscle strength and muscle mass, downregulates systemic inflammation and improves neuroplasticity, neuroendocrine and oxidative stress responses.Reference Aagaard, Suetta, Caserotti, Magnusson and Kjaer15–Reference Kandola, Ashdown-Franks, Hendrikse, Sabiston and Stubbs17 Furthermore, handgrip strength has also been observed as a more useful single marker of frailty (a clinical syndrome in older adults characterised by an increased risk for poor health outcomes such as falls, disability, hospital admissions and mortality) for older people of similar age than using chronological age alone.Reference Syddall, Cooper, Martin, Briggs and Sayer18

Another excerpt:

A total of 115 601 participants (mean age 64.3 years (s.d. = 9.9), 54.3% women) were followed-up for a median of 7.3 years (interquartile range: 3.9–11.8) and 792 459 person-years. During this period, 30 208 (26.1%) participants experienced a risk of depression.

When modelled as a continuous variable, we observed an inverse significant association for each kg increase of handgrip strength and depression up to 40 kg in men and up to 27 kg in women.

REPRINTS & OTHER CORRESPONDENCE:

Joaquin Calatayud joaquin.calatayud@uv.es

Ken Pope

Merely Forwarded by:
Michael Reeder LCPC

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