# Association of smoking cessation with dynapenia among older lifetime smokers in Korea

## TL;DR

This study finds that quitting smoking is linked to lower chances of muscle weakness in older Korean smokers, with longer quit times showing stronger benefits.

## Contribution

The study is the first to explore the link between smoking cessation duration and dynapenia in older adults using Korean population data.

## Key findings

- Former smokers had a 34% lower odds of dynapenia compared to current smokers.
- Longer smoking cessation periods were associated with a decreasing trend in dynapenia risk.
- The odds of dynapenia significantly decreased with more years since smoking cessation.

## Abstract

Muscle strength is known to play an important role in the health of older adults. The health burden of cigarette smoking among older adults remains significant. We investigated the association between smoking cessation and dynapenia among older lifetime smokers in Korea.

This study is a secondary dataset analysis of cross-sectional data from the

Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2016– 2019. We included 1450 participants aged 65–79 years, excluding those who had never smoked. Dynapenia was defined as grip strength <28 kg for men and <18 kg for women based on the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia 2019 criteria. Multivariable logistic regression analysis evaluated the association between smoking cessation and dynapenia.

Compared with current smokers, the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) of dynapenia in former smokers was 0.66 (95% CI: 0.44–0.99). The AORs for smoking cessation periods of ≤10 years, 10–20 years, 20–30 years, and >30 years were 0.67 (95% CI: 0.39–1.16), 0.61 (95% CI: 0.36–1.03), 0.65 (95% CI: 0.37–1.14), and 0.52 (95% CI: 0.25–1.06), respectively. The AOR for dynapenia significantly decreased with the years since smoking cessation (p for trend=0.043).

Our findings suggest that smoking cessation can reduce the likelihood of dynapenia among older lifetime smokers, with a decreasing likelihood trend associated with longer cessation periods.