EVALUATION OF VALIDITY OF BRITISH ANTHROPOMETRIC REFERENCE DATA FOR ASSESSING NUTRITIONAL STATE OF ELDERLY PEOPLE IN EDINBURGH - CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Objectives: To evaluate the appropriateness of two sets of commonly us ed anthropometric reference data for nutritional assessment of elderly people. Design: Cross sectional study. Setting: Two general practices in Edinburgh. Subjects: 200 independently living men and women aged 7 5 or over randomly recruited from the age and sex register of the prac tices. Main outcome measures: Weight (kg), knee height (cm), demispan (cm), mid-upper arm circumference (cm), triceps skinfold thickness (mm ), arm muscle circumference (cm) body mass index (kg/m(2)), and demiqu et (kg/m(2)) in men and minder (kg/m) in women. Results: Men and women in Edinburgh were significantly shorter than those in measured for th e Nottingham reference data (demispan 0.79 v 0.80 (P < 0.05) for men a nd 0.72 v 0.73 (P < 0.01) for women). Comparison with data from South Wales showed that men and women from Edinburgh had significantly great er mid-upper arm circumference, triceps skinfold thickness, and arm mu scle circumference. No one fell below the 10th centile of the South Wa les data (the commonly used cut off point for determining malnutrition ) for these measures. Conclusions: Both sets of reference data commonl y used in Britain may be inappropriate for nutritional screening of el derly people in Edinburgh. Contemporary reference data appropriate for the whole of Britain need to be developed, and in the longer term bio logically or clinically defined criteria for undernutrition should be established.