Associations Between Lifestyle Behaviors and Handgrip Strength in Community-Dwelling Older Women: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background/Objectives: Handgrip strength is a widely used indicator of physical function that is associated with various health outcomes of older adults. However, the relationship between lifestyle factors and handgrip strength, as well as the age-associated relationship between them, remains insufficiently understood. This study examined age-adjusted associations between multiple lifestyle factors and handgrip strength among older women. Methods: During this cross-sectional study of 2206 older women, handgrip strength was categorized into low, middle, and high tertiles. Lifestyle factors such as meal enjoyment, exercise frequency, sleep quality, social interaction, and outing frequency were assessed using a questionnaire. Group differences were evaluated using an analysis of variance and chi-square tests. A general linear model with age as a covariate was used to compare age-adjusted proportions of lifestyle behaviors across handgrip strength tertiles. Results: Participants in the high handgrip strength tertile were younger and more likely to report favorable lifestyle behaviors. After adjusting for age, meal enjoyment (p = 0.024), social interaction (p = 0.001), and outing frequency (p = 0.017) remained significantly associated with handgrip strength. In contrast, sleep quality (p = 0.073) and exercise frequency (p = 0.060) were not significantly associated with handgrip strength after age adjustment. Higher lifestyle scores were significantly associated with higher handgrip strength. Conclusions: Among older women, meal enjoyment, social interaction, and outing frequency were associated with handgrip strength after adjustment for age. These findings highlight the potential relevance of meal enjoyment and social engagement as contextual lifestyle characteristics associated with handgrip strength. However, causal relationships cannot be inferred because of the cross-sectional study design.