Use of knee height as a surrogate measure of height in older South Africans
Date
2007
Authors
Marais D.
Marais M.L.
Labadarios D.
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Abstract
The study aimed to determine whether knee height would be a more appropriate surrogate measurement than armspan in determining height and body mass index (BMI) in a group of South African older people (≥ 60 years). A random sample of adults (older than 18 years) who attended selected clinics or who lived in selected old-age homes in the Western Cape volunteered to participate in the study. Subjects were divided into a study group of older people (≥ 60 years of age, N = 1 233) and a comparative group of younger adults (18-59 years, N = 1 038). Armspan, knee height, standing height and weight were measured using standardised techniques. The standing height measurements were significantly different between the two groups (p = 0.0001), with a mean for adults of 1.61 m (standard deviation (SD) 0.09) compared with that of older people (1.57 m (SD 0.09)). Mean standing height decreased with age. Knee-height measurements were not significantly different between the two groups, but when used to calculate height, the adults were significantly taller (p = 0.0001), with a mean height of 1.67 m (SD 0.06) compared with that of the older people (1.59 m (SD 0.08)). Mean armspan also decreased with age, and derived standing height was significantly different (p = 0.0001) between the two groups, with adults being taller (1.67 m (SD 0.11)) than the older people (1.63 m (SD 0.11)). In this study group, the knee-height measurements were more closely related to the standing height than the armspan. The BMI calculated from armspan-derived height tended to classify the older people towards underweight. Knee-height measurement would appear to be a more accurate and appropriate method to determine height in older people in South Africa.
Description
Keywords
adult, age distribution, aged, anthropometric parameters, arm, article, body height, body mass, body weight, controlled study, female, geriatric care, geriatric hospital, home for the aged, human, human experiment, knee height, male, normal human, nutritional status, South Africa, standing, statistical significance
Citation
South African Journal of Clinical Nutrition
20
1
20
1