Association between handgrip strength and fall injuries among patients with chronic kidney disease: a prospective cohort study

Background Chronic kidney disease (CKD), often coexisting with various systemic disorders, may increase the risk of falls. This study aimed to investigate the associations between grip strength and fall injuries among patients with CKD, and whether these associations differ by sociodemographic and lifestyle factors. Methods We included patients with CKD from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between handgrip strength and fall injuries. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) was employed to evaluate the predictive ability of handgrip strength for fall injuries. Results A total of 657 participants with CKD were included, and the prevalence of fall injury rates was 26.5%. After adjustment, for each 1 kg increase in right handgrip strength, the fall incident rate decreased by 3% (OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.94 to 1.00, p=0.023). Further analysis revealed a negative linear association between right handgrip strength and fall injuries, and the area under the ROC curve was 0.606 (95% CI 0.558 to 0.654, p<0.001). Conclusions Our study found a negative linear correlation between right handgrip strength and fall injuries rate among patients with CKD. Right handgrip strength could serve as a simple, low-cost screening tool for identifying patients with CKD at elevated risk of falls.