Menopausal hormone changes not linked to loss of strength for aging women
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Among postmenopausal women, researchers observed no significant associations between ovarian steroids, adrenal hormones, insulin-like growth factor I, parathormone and vitamin D and handgrip strength, according to study results.
“Handgrip strength is currently considered an independent indicator for the decline in cognition, disability, frailty and mortality,” Pascual García-Alfaro, MD, from the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproduction at the Dexeus University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues wrote. “Grip strength in older adults has been recommended as a biomarker of healthy aging.”
This cross-sectional study, published in Menopause, included 402 postmenopausal women aged 47 to 83 years (mean age, 62.9 years). Researchers measured hormonal parameters including follicle-stimulating hormone, estradiol, testosterone, cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, androstenedione, IGF-I, vitamin D and parathormone levels. Researchers then evaluated associations between these studied endogenous hormones and handgrip strength.
In the cohort, the mean dominant handgrip strength of postmenopausal women was 22.8 kg, with 25.6% of women presenting with decreased functional muscle strength, or dynapenia. Dynapenia was observed among 16.8% of women who were aged 65 years or younger and among 42.1% of women who were older than 65 years.
Researchers observed significant plasma level differences in follicle-stimulating hormone (OR = 0.99; 95% CI, 0.98-1), cortisol (OR = 1.07; 95% CI, 1.02-1.12) and DHEA sulfate (OR = 0.99; 95% CI, 0.98-1) between postmenopausal women with normal handgrip strength and those with dynapenia. After adjusting for confounding variables, there were no significant associations between the studied endogenous hormones and handgrip strength.
Adiposity and intramuscular fat accumulation are both linked to mitochondrial damage and increased proinflammatory cytokines inducing muscle dysfunction, which means that subclinical chronic inflammation may play a role in handgrip strength reduction, the researchers wrote. Because of this, they added, future research should analyze such factors to assess handgrip strength reduction and dynapenia risk for postmenopausal women.
“Because of the clinical implications of dynapenia, further studies are needed to determine specific factors to assess the handgrip strength reduction, and the risk of dynapenia in postmenopausal women,” the researchers wrote.
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