Bone Mineral Density and Muscle Mass Determine Handgrip Strength Only when Multiple Tests Are Performed

BACKGROUND: Handgrip strength is thought to be correlated to bone mineral density and muscle mass. PURPOSE: To determine the relationship between handgrip strength and body composition measures (bone mineral density and muscle mass) in large scale. METHODS: We have recruited 728 volunteers aged ≧20 y. Maximal handgrip strength and average handgrip strength were measured in 10-consecutive attempts with maximal efforts. Rest interval between each grip was 3 s. Bone density and muscle mass of all participants were measured using iDXA. RESULTS: Our data show that average handgrip strength of 10 repeated tasks was highly linearly correlated with lean body mass (r=0.76, p<0.01) and moderately correlated with bone mineral density (r=0.60, p<0.01), respectively. The maximum grip strength of 10 attempts deems low correlation with muscle mass (r=0.33, p<0.01) and bone mineral density (r=0.23, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Multiple grip tests seems to be superior in reflecting muscle mass and bone mineral density than single maximal value of handgrip strength.