Anthropometric measurements from a cross-sectional survey of community dwelling subjects aged over 90 years of age

Abstract

Objective: To measure anthropometric variables of weight, height, body mass index (BMI) and triceps skin fold thickness (TSF) and produce local percentiles for b 90 y old subjects. To assess prevalence of conventional measures of under nutrition (BMI at or below 18.5 kg/m 2 ) or over nutrition (BMI values b 30 kg/m 2 ) in this age group. Design: Community cross-sectional study. Setting:Belfast, Northern Ireland. Subjects: 238 subjects b 90 y of age who were apparently well, mentally competent and recruited from all areas of Belfast. Results: Mean weight was signi®cantly heavier in male 63.9 (s.d. 9.1) kg compared to female subjects 54.4 (s.d. 11.9) kg (P`0.0001). Men were signi®cantly taller than women with mean height of 162 (s.d. 5.9) cm compared to 150 (s.d. 6.7) cm in women (P`0.0001). Increasing age was associated with a fall in weight (P 0.06 female; P 0.09 male) and in height for women (P 0.04).

Nutrition and human health from a sex–gender perspective

“…Female in-patients are at a markedly increased (by more than 3-fold) risk for undernutrition when compared to men (Castel et al, 2006). These findings are in contrast with previous publications reporting similar prevalence rates in elderly men and women (Perissinotto et al, 2002;Rea et al, 1997) or higher rates in men (Ritchie et al, 1997).…”

Age and sex variations in adiposity and central fat distribution among elderly Bengalee Hindus of Calcutta, India

“…Furthermore, anthropometry has also been useful in identifying changes in body size and composition that occur with old age (Chumlea, Rhyne, Garry et al 1989, Lipschitz 1992, Manandhar 1995, Chilima and Ismail 1998, Guo et al 1999. Anthropometri c measurements provide an indirect assessment of body composition and are easy and economical to undertake (Rea, Gillen andClarke 1997, Whitehead andFinucane 1997). Many studies (Burr and Phillips, 1984, Chumlea et al 1986, Shimokata, Tobin, Muller et al 1989, Micozzi and Harris 1990, Yassin and Terry 1991, Delaure et al 1994, Chilima and Ismail 1998, Oguntona and Kuku 2000 have already been reported on health and nutritional status among elderly individuals utilizing anthropometry from di erent parts of the world.…”

Anthropometric measurement of the Chinese elderly living in the Beijing area

“…Although various methods to estimate height in the elderly have been developed, their validity remains uncertain. Standing height (stature) is still the most widely used statistic for height measurement in the elderly (Van Staveren et al, 1995;Rea et al, 1997;Finch et al, 1998) and was measured by a standard method in the present study. Table 5 shows that the subjects in the older groups had lower mean statures.…”