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Original Article
- Secular trends in grip strength among Korean adults according to socioeconomic factors: the 2014-2022 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
- Harim Choe, Hoyong Sung, Yeon Soo Kim
- Epidemiol Health. 2025;47:e2025074. Published online December 16, 2025
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.4178/epih.e2025074
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AbstractOBJECTIVES
Muscle strength is a key indicator of overall health, and its decline has been linked to increased morbidity and mortality. Socioeconomic factors may contribute to disparities in this decline. Therefore, this study aimed to examine trends in muscle strength and to identify groups with lower muscle strength according to socioeconomic variables.METHODSWe analyzed data from the cross-sectional Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES), including 34,080 adults. Multivariable linear regression analyses were conducted, adjusting for socioeconomic and health-related covariates, and KNHANES survey weights were applied to obtain nationally representative estimates that accounted for the complex sampling design.RESULTSOverall, mean grip strength significantly decreased from 2014 to 2022 in both males (from 43.45±0.24 to 41.59± 0.29 kg) and females (from 26.48±0.15 to 24.94±0.13 kg). This trend was consistently observed across all covariate strata, except for individuals aged over 70 years and those in the green-collar occupational group. In 2022, grip strength was lower among individuals with the lowest education level (26.45±0.34 vs. 34.75±0.32 kg in the undergraduate group) and the lowest household income level (29.59±0.45 vs. 34.53±0.35 kg in the highest income group), as well as among unemployed individuals (29.36± 0.30 vs. 37.00±0.47 kg in the blue-collar group), compared with their higher socioeconomic counterparts.CONCLUSIONSThese findings provide descriptive evidence of grip strength trends and socioeconomic disparities in Korea. They may serve as baseline information to guide future longitudinal studies and inform public health strategies. -
SummaryKorean summary
본 연구에서는 한국 성인의 악력이 감소하다가 다시 회복되는 경향을 보였으며, 교육수준·소득·직업에 따라 악력의 뚜렷한 사회경제적 격차가 존재함을 확인하였다. 이러한 결과는 낮은 악력 위험군을 식별하기 위한 기초 근거를 제공한다.Key Message
This study demonstrates secular changes in grip strength among Korean adults and reveals persistent socioeconomic disparities by education, income, and occupation. These findings provide descriptive evidence to help identify population groups with lower grip strength.
Review
- The Effects of Psychosocial Factors in the Stress Process.
- Sei Jin Chang
- Korean J Epidemiol. 2002;24(2):148-163.
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AbstractFor the past three decades, considerable attentions have been paid to the search for stressors, stress outcomes and stress modifiers that may reduce the impact of exposure to environmental stressors. Especially medical sociologists and psychologists in medical parts, had an intellectual contribution to the development of stress research. They have presented an excellent opportunity to examine how deeply well-being is affected by the socially structured arrangements of people's lives and by the continuous experiences that result from these arrangements. The predominant concern has been with the role of coping resources, especially social support, coping and so on. The majority of studies report modest but significant positive association between life event levels and physical and mental symtomatology. In particular, the importance of considering psychosocial factors that may modify the effects of stressors on the risk factors for diseases or onset of illness has been emphasized increasingly. Clearly, stress is a complex process in which social, psychological and physiological environments simultaneously affect well-being. This study was performed to document the effect of psychosocial factors such social support, coping, personality traits which had been well known as stress modifiers in the stress process.
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