115 Association Between Muscle Strength, Body Composition and Stroke Incidence- Findings from the UK Biobank Prospective Cohort Study

Background Stroke incidence is growing. Muscle strength and muscle mass are inversely associated with cardiovascular health and the ageing process. The aim of this study was to examine the association between components of body composition and incident stroke. Methods UK Biobank is a prospective, population-based study wherein 348,198 participants aged 40–69 years (56% women) were recruited. The associations of handgrip strength and muscle mass (kg) with stroke incidence over follow-up were investigated using Cox-proportional hazard models. Results Among 348,198 participants, 5,480 (0.02%) participants developed a fatal or non-fatal stroke event over the mean follow-up period of 8.92 (SD 1.15) years. Findings demonstrated inverse and independent associations between hand grip strength and stroke incidence (HR: 0.92, 95% CI 0.89; 0.95, p < 0.001) and stroke mortality (HR: 0.85, 95% CI 0.78; 0.92, p = 0.005) in the full-adjusted models. Findings also show inverse associations between body fat and stroke incidence (HR: 0.93, 95% CI 0.87; 0.99, p = 0.02) and stroke mortality (HR: 0.83, 95% CI 0.71; 1.00, p = 0.02). Muscle mass was not associated with stroke risk or mortality. Conclusion Handgrip strength and body fat were inversely associated with a higher risk of stroke among middle-aged participants in this population-based cohort study. These findings support the importance of body composition and muscle strength evaluation in screening for stroke risk among adults 40+ years old without pre-existing disease.