Skip to navigation Skip to main content Skip to footer

Approved Research

Associations of chronic diseases with physical activity, muscle strength, lung function and cognitive function

Principal Investigator: Professor Xueqiang Wang
Approved Research ID: 92476
Approval date: August 25th 2022

Lay summary

The project will study the potential relationships between common chronic disorders (such as chronic low back pain, Parkinson's disease, stroke and knee osteoarthritis), physical activity, muscle strength, and lung and cognitive functions. To explain further, physical activity means the time or intensity of daily activity, or other physical performances; muscle strength could be handgrip strength; lung functions indicate the healthy condition of the respiratory system while cognitive functions mean the variety of mental processes, including memory and decision making. Based on previous studies, the morbidity of cardiometabolic multimorbidity and dementia is associated with handgrip strength, and the risk of incident arrhythmias is related to physical activity. Therefore, it is rational to hypothesise that time or intensity of daily activity, handgrip strength, lung health, or memory condition is related to the happening or development of these common chronic disorders.

The duration of this project is approximately 3 years. The results of this project will indicate the potential associations between chronic diseases and other functions, such as intensity of daily activity, handgrip strength, healthy lung conditions and memory. Therefore, these findings could tell people about possible causes or factors of the development of stroke, and knee osteoarthritis, thereby providing more information for clinicians and therapists to prevent the happening and decrease the risk of death from these disorders.