ANTHROPOMETRIC MEASUREMENTS FROM A CROSS-SECTIONAL SURVEY OF COMMUNITY-DWELLING SUBJECTS AGED OVER 90 YEARS OF AGE

Objective: To measure anthropometric variables of weight, height, body mass index (BMI) and triceps skin fold thickness (TSF) and produce lo cal percentiles for > 90 y old subjects. To assess prevalence of conve ntional measures of under nutrition (BMI at or below 18.5 kg/m(2)) or over nutrition (BMI values > 30 kg/m(2)) in this age group. Design: Co mmunity cross-sectional study. Setting: Belfast, Northern Ireland. Sub jects: 238 subjects > 90 y of age who were apparently well, mentally c ompetent and recruited from all areas of Belfast. Results: Mean weight was significantly heavier in male 63.9 (s.d. 9.1) kg compared to fema le subjects 54.4 (s.d. 11.9) kg (P < 0.0001). Men were significantly t aller than women with mean height of 162 (s.d. 5.9) cm compared to 150 (s.d. 6.7) cm in women (P < 0.0001). Increasing age was associated wi th a fall in weight (P = 0.06 female; P = 0.09 male) and in height for women (P = 0.04). Mean BMI was 24.3 (s.d. 3.0) kg/m(2) for men and 24 .6 (s.d. 5.4) kg/m(2) for women with no sex or age differential. 10% o f females had values for BMI < 18.5 kg/m(2). 11% of female and 2% of m ale subjects had BMI values > 30 kg/m(2). TSF values were 11.7 (s.d. 4 .1) mm in male and 12.3 (s.d. 4.5) mm in female subjects with no age o r sex-related difference. Conclusions: Local percentiles for anthropom etric variables are presented for subjects > 90 y. Both BMI and TSF sh ow no sex or age-related difference. Ten percent of females have BMI v alues consistent with either under nutrition or over nutrition.