G. Gaggiotti et al., THE INFLUENCE OF AGE AND SEX ON NUTRITIONAL PARAMETERS IN SUBJECTS AGED 60 YEARS AND OVER, Archives of gerontology and geriatrics, 20(2), 1995, pp. 117-128
The nutritional assessment of the elderly shows several interpretative
difficulties due to the lack of standard parameters. Moreover chronic
age-related diseases can interfere with the physiological nutritional
status. Anthropometric (triceps skinfold, arm muscle area, total body
muscle mass, fat mass and Body Mass Index (BMI)), biochemical (serum
prealbumin, transferrin, ceruloplasmin, total protein and albumin) and
immunological (serum lymphocytes) parameters were measured in 583 out
-patients aged 60 years or over selected on the basis of clinical and
biochemical criteria and with BMI less than or equal to 30. The subjec
ts were classified into four age-groups (60-64, 65-69, 70-74, greater
than or equal to 75) for each sex. The F-test analysis for all anthrop
ometric parameters except BMI showed significant differences with resp
ect to age (P < 0.05) and sex (P < 0.05). Among biochemical parameters
, prealbumin showed a significant difference for age (P < 0.05) and se
x (P < 0.05) (males, 30.3 +/- 8.2; females, 29.1 +/- 7.5) while cerulo
plasmin showed a significant difference for sex only (P < 0.05) (males
, 40.9 +/- 9.3; females, 43.8 +/- 8.2). When the biochemical mean valu
es obtained in this study were compared with those utilized in the dai
ly routine of the hospital central laboratory, ceruloplasmin and preal
bumin resulted in significantly higher (P < 0.05) while total protein
and albumin were significantly lower values (P < 0.05).