Association between functional aspects and health-related quality of life in patients with colorectal cancer: can handgrip strength be the measure of choice in clinical practice?

purposeWe aimed to investigate the association between handgrip strength (HGS) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). A cross-sectional study was conducted including CRC patients.

methodsWe performed an assessment of aspects of functional health using the criteria of frailty phenotype (defined by Fried et al., 2001), sarcopenia (defined by the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People 2, 2018) and by HGS, which measures muscle strength using a manual dynamometer. HRQoL was assessed using the EORTC questionnaire QLQ-C30. Analyses of variance and multivariate linear regression were used to compare frailty, sarcopenia, and HGS with HRQoL.

resultsA total of 142 patients were included (age 62.7 ± 11.4 years; 56.3% women; 18.3% of patients with frailty; 9.9% with sarcopenia, and 15.5% had low HGS). After adjusting for sociodemographic, clinical, and nutritional variables, the regression analysis showed that frailty and sarcopenia were associated with worse HRQoL. Low HGS was associated with worse HRQoL in patients with CRC regardless of both frailty components (global health status: B =  - 13.4, p = 0.004; physical function: B =  - 10.4, p = 0.006; emotional function: B =  - 18.1, p = 0.041; fatigue: B = 9.1, p = 0.027; dyspnea: B = 10.7, p = p = 0.024; appetite loss: B = 12.4, p = 0.041) and sarcopenia components (global health status: B =  - 13.2, p = 0.004; physical function: B =  - 15.0, p = 0.001; emotional function: B =  - 25.1, p = 0.006; fatigue: B = 15.2, p = 0.007; pain: B = 18.7, p = 0.024, dyspnea: B = 11.4, p = 0.017).

conclusionWe concluded that HGS was positively associated with HRQoL in patients with CRC and may initially be the variable of choice in clinical practice, which is associated with HRQoL.