Suchergebnisse

The anthropometric elderly, arbitrarily defined as those 65 years of age and above, are a distinct subgroup with special human factors needs. They are significantly smaller in stature and in many other body dimensions than the general population. This smaller size results both from the secular trend (people are currently growing taller and larger than in the past) and from various biological changes inherent in the aging process. Weight and certain other dimensions are less age-affected, however, except at more advanced ages. Existing information on the anthropometry of the elderly is reviewed, and tabular data are presented on selected "human engineering" dimensions. Additional, more comprehensive, functional anthropometric data are needed for this population.

Means, standard deviations, and percentiles are presented for forty-seven functional measurements of 133 ambulatory Spanish-American War veterans with a mean age of 81.6 years and an age range from 72 to 91 years. Practical applications of the data are noted. As compared with younger men, the veterans were smaller, lighter, weaker, and had shorter reaches but deeper chests. Their skinfolds did not differ.