Zhang H, Hsu-Hage B H, Wahlqvist M L
Department of Medicine, Monash University, Clayton, Australia.
J Nutr Health Aging. 1998;2(2):84-7.
Loss of height occurs in the elderly. Not only is this height valuable to assess, but it creates difficulty for comparisons using equations based on estimates of stature in adult populations which often overlook the loss of height with age. Alternatives, such as the use of arm-span or hip length as surrogates for maximum stature (MS) during adulthood, have been proposed. In a study of 247 (130 men and 117 women) adult ethnic Chinese living in Melbourne, Australia, we tested the hypothesis that knee height is independent of age and attempted to devise an equation for the estimation of maximum stature (MS) in the this elderly group (aged 65 yrs) of this population. Anthropometric indices, including body weight, stature, arm-span, and knee height were twice measured using standard methods described by Lohman et al., and averaged for use in the analysis. In both men and women, the younger adults were taller and had a greater arm-span than their elderly counterparts: however, there was no difference in knee height or body weight between the two groups. Knee height was not associated with age, while stature and arm-span correlated negatively with age. These findings suggest that knee height provides for a valid estimate of MS during early adulthood than arm-span. Knee height is independent of age and does not appear to decreased over time, in spite of an expected cohort effect in this population. Arm-span, however, appears to change with a cohort as well as with age. Thus, there is a place in a life-time nutritional assessment of the aged to measure both arm-span as an index of cohort status and knee height for an individual's maximum achieved stature.
老年人会出现身高降低的情况。这种身高不仅对评估很重要，而且使用基于成年人群身高估计值的公式进行比较时会产生困难，因为这些公式常常忽略了身高随年龄的降低。已经有人提出了一些替代方法，比如使用臂展或臀长作为成年期最大身高（MS）的替代指标。在一项针对居住在澳大利亚墨尔本的247名（130名男性和117名女性）成年华裔的研究中，我们检验了膝高与年龄无关这一假设，并试图设计一个公式来估计该人群中这个老年组（65岁）的最大身高（MS）。使用Lohman等人描述的标准方法对体重、身高、臂展和膝高等人体测量指标进行了两次测量，并取平均值用于分析。在男性和女性中，较年轻的成年人比他们的老年同龄人更高，臂展也更大：然而，两组之间的膝高或体重没有差异。膝高与年龄无关，而身高和臂展与年龄呈负相关。这些发现表明，与臂展相比，膝高在成年早期能更有效地估计最大身高（MS）。膝高与年龄无关，尽管该人群存在预期的队列效应，但似乎不会随时间降低。然而，臂展似乎会随队列以及年龄而变化。因此，在对老年人进行终身营养评估时，测量臂展作为队列状态指标以及膝高作为个体达到的最大身高是有必要的。
