Effect of Menopause on Handgrip Strength in Middle-Aged Women of Amritsar, Punjab, India

Introduction Women may experience a decline in physical function during menopause due to decreased physical strength. The objectives of the present study were to estimate the handgrip strength of pre- and post-menopausal women of Amritsar, India, and to search its correlations with selected anthropometric variables studied. Materials and Methods A total of 802 purposively selected middle-aged women (403 pre-menopausal, age group 35-45 years and 399 post-menopausal, age group 46-55 years) were considered as samples. To serve these purposes, dominant and non-dominant handgrip strength and three anthropometric variables, viz. height, weight and body mass index (BMI) were measured on all the subjects. Age of the subjects was estimated from their date of birth from urban areas. But in case of rural areas where birth records were not available, the age of the subjects was assessed with the association with some notable events such as age at marriage, age of the first child, any important festival, etc. Results Pre-menopausal women had higher mean values in dominant and non-dominant handgrip strength and height, and lesser mean values in age weight and BMI then their post-menopausal counterparts, showing statistically significant differences (p0.01-0.001) in dominant and non-dominant handgrip strength, age and height. Significant positive correlations (p 0.017-0.001) of dominant handgrip strength were found with non-dominant handgrip strength and height both in pre- and post-menopausal women. Conclusion In conclusion, it could be stated that the post-menopausal women had lower handgrip strength than their pre-menopausal counterparts.