SYMPATHETIC SUDOMOTOR FUNCTION AND AGING

Many studies have reported the influence of aging on different portion s of the autonomic nervous system components but only partially for th e sympathetic cholinergic system. We evaluated postganglionic sudomoto r function in 196 healthy subjects, 104 women and 92 men, by determini ng sweat gland density (SGD) per square centimeter of skin, on the dor sum of the hand and foot, with the impression mold technique, The age range was from 5 to 84 years, A significant decrease of SGD was observ ed in both hand and foot in relation to age (P < 0.001), The ANOVA ana lysis of foot data shows that age is the only significant factor for S GD reduction, In the hand, both sex and body surface area are signific ant covariates with age, The dorsum of the foot is the most appropriat e place to examine sweating in studies of aging, The lower normal limi ts for SGD in the foot are 213/cm(2) for subjects younger than 30 year s, 199/cm(2) for those from 30 to 59 years, and 123/cm(2) for subjects over 59 years old. (C) 1995 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.