SIGNIFICANCE OF STATURE AS A CLINICAL MEASUREMENT OF AGEING

A study was made of 140 women (age range, 30 to 94 years) selected at random in a large psychiatric hospital, to determine changes in stature after maturity and the correlation of such age-associated changes with various body measurements. It was found that: 1. There is a statistically significant decrease in stature with age. 2. The ratio of body length to armspan is a convenient method for assessing the amount of height loss with age. 3. The rate of decrease in stature is about 1.3 cm per age decade. 4. Loss of stature with age is best correlated with osteoporosis (metacarpal index) but is also correlated, less significantly, with skinfold thickness on the dorsum of the hands. 5. Loss of stature with age is not importantly correlated with osteoarthrosis, as determined by changes in joints of the hand. © 1969 The American Geriatrics Society.