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ABSTRACT
Background
In Nigeria, distributions of body composition
are usually generated for children, adolescent,
and middle-aged groups. This study describes three
anthropometric measures (height, weight, and body
mass index [BMI]) of elderly in Asaba, Delta state
in Nigeria. Methods Data on body weight, height
and BMI was derived from 176 subjects who attended
the Medical Lectures of the Ebreme foundation
for the elderly in Federal Medical Centre, Asaba.
The SPSS (Statistic Package for Social Science)
version 17.0 was used for data analysis. Results
This study had 62.5% males and 37.5% females.
Approximately18.2% of them were aged 50-59 years,
43.8% (60-69 years), 29% (70-79 years) and only
9.1% aged 80 years or more. The general population
had a mean weight of 70.98 ± 13.98kg, height
1.61 ± 0.11m and BMI 27.36 ± 5.60kg/m2.
However, elderly men had lower body weight (70.55
± 12.07kg) and BMI (25.90 ± 4.2160kg/m2)
than the elderly women (71.70 ± 16.76kg
and 29.79 ± 6.7060kg/m2 respectively) but
they were taller in height (1.65 ± 0.08m)
than the elderly women (1.55 ± 0.12m).
The difference in height and BMI between male
and female elderly was significant (P<0.05;
F-value 43.082 and 22.35 respectively). The mean
value of weight and height decreased significantly
with age (P<0.05).
Conclusion This study revealed that the
body weight, height and BMI of the elderly in
Asaba, Nigeria decline with age, with higher magnitude
before the age of 60 years and from 80 years.
Keywords: elderly, anthropometric measures,
body weight, height, BMI.
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INTRODUCTION
Nutritional Status refers to
the nutritional state of the body as expressed according
to scientifically tested parameters which included weight,
height and body mass index (BMI). Height and weight
are two of the most easily obtained anthropometric measures
and have been used extensively in screening and monitoring
programs because overweight and obesity have been considered
as risk factors for various diseases [1,2,3].
Anthropometry has been used at different ages for assessing
health and nutritional well-being. But the distributions
of body composition are usually generated for children,
adolescents, and adults between the ages of 19 and 64
years, most of them from the perspective of nutrition
[4,5,6].
Kuczmarski and his associates [7] confirmed that the
mean values of BMI increased with each 10-year increment
until 50 through 59 years of age for both men and women
and then decreased with age. However, researchers had
called for more attention to the changes in body composition
related to aging [8,9]. For cross-national comparison,
Launer and Harris compared anthropometric data (height,
weight, and BMI) from 19 geographically and ethnically
varied samples of community-dwelling elderly people
[9]. Across the studies there were large differences
in the prevalence of overweight and underweight, but
in all studies the mean values of height and BMI decreased
with age.
Therefore, it is important to generate more information
on body composition of elderly persons in Nigeria, to
contribute more empirical evidence to aging studies.
This present study however, focuses on the body composition
of an elderly population sample in Asaba, Nigeria.
SUBJECT AND METHODS
A total of 176 willing participants
completed this study. The survey was conducted from
April to May, 2009 in the Federal Medical Centre, Asaba.
Subjects were recruited from the attendees to the April
quarterly medical lectures of the Ebreme foundation
of the elderly (an NGO). The subjects were grouped in
batches and given an appointment over a period of 4
weeks for screening and data collection at the Federal
Medical Center, Asaba. The Ethical Committee on human
study at the Federal Medical Center, Asaba granted approval
for this study protocol.
Three major anthropometric measures; body weight, height
and BMI were used in the present study. The height and
weight of the subjects were measured simultaneously
by using standard hospital weighing balance and height
measure (SMIC Health Scale, Made in China). Body weight
was measured to the nearest 0.1 kg, with the participant
wearing light clothes and without shoes, jackets, caps
and heavy ornaments. Standing height without shoes was
measured to the nearest 0.1 cm. BMI was calculated as
the weight (in kg) divided by height (in m2). The criteria
of the World Health Organization (WHO) [10] were adopted
to measure the prevalence of overweight and obesity.
The subjects falling in the BMI categories between 25
and 29.9 were considered overweight; those with a BMI
30 and above were obese. A descriptive analysis was
performed to generate relationship of height, weight,
and BMI of these elderly persons by age and gender.
ANALYSIS OF DATA
All data were coded and
entered into the SPSS (Statistic Package for Social
Science) version 17.0. The categorical variables were
presented as frequencies and percentages. The differences
in mean values of height, weight, and BMI among different
age groups and between sexes were examined by ANOVA
analysis. Statistical significance was set at 95% confidence
interval.
RESULTS
The sex and age distributions
are shown in Table 1. A total of 176 elderly subjects
included in this study had 110 (62.5%) men and 66 (37.5%)
women. Approximately18.2% of the subjects were aged
50-59 years, 43.8% aged 60-69 years, 29% aged 70-79
years and only 9.1% aged 80 years or more.
Table 1. Sex and Age
distribution of subjects
| |
Frequency |
Percent |
| Sex |
| Male |
110 |
62.5 |
| Female |
66 |
37.5 |
| Total |
176 |
100 |
| Age
group |
| 50-59 |
32 |
18.2 |
| 60-69 |
77 |
43.8 |
| 70-79 |
51 |
29 |
| 80
and above |
16 |
9.1 |
| Total |
176 |
100 |
The mean values of weight, height,
and BMI are presented in Table 2. The general population
had a mean weight of 70.98 ± 13.98kg, height
1.61 ± 0.11m and BMI 27.36 ± 5.60kg/m2.
According to gender, the elderly men had lower body
weight (70.55 ± 12.07kg) and BMI (25.90 ±
4.2160kg/m2) than the elderly women (71.70 ±
16.76kg and 29.79 ± 6.7060kg/m2 respectively)
but they were taller (1.65 ± 0.08m) than the
elderly women (1.55 ± 0.12m). The difference
in height and BMI were statistically different between
male and female elderly (P<0.05; F-value 43.082 and
22.35 respectively) whereas the difference in weight
was not significant (F-value 0.274, P-value 0.601).
Table 2. Mean values
of body weight, height and body mass index (BMI) of
subjects according to sex
| |
Male |
Female |
Total |
F-value |
P-value |
| Weight(kg) |
70.55
± 12.07 |
71.70
± 16.76 |
70.98
± 13.98 |
0.274 |
0.601 |
| Height(m) |
1.65
± 0.08 |
1.55
± 0.12 |
1.61
± 0.11 |
43.082 |
0.000 |
| BMI(kg/m2) |
25.90
± 4.21 |
29.79
± 6.70 |
27.36
± 5.60 |
22.35 |
0.000 |
Table 3 described the distributions
of weight, height and BMI according to age. The mean
value of weight decreased with age; 50-59 year old group
had 79.75 ± 15.21kg, 60-69 years had 70.56 ±
12.58kg, 70-79 years had 69.25 ± 13.49kg while
80 years and above had 61.00 ± 10.62kg. Similar
decreasing trends were also found in the height and
BMI of the elderly subjects. The height decreased from
1.66 ± 0.07meters (50-59 years old age group)
to 1.54 ± 0.17meters (elderly age 80 years and
above). BMI also decreased from 29.18 ± 5.86kg/m2
among the group of 50-59 years old to 26.70 ±
9.15kg/m2 among elderly of 80years and above. The magnitude
of decrease in the weight and height were relatively
more before the age of 60 years and 80 years. The decrease
between the group of 60-69 years and 70-79 years were
relatively small. The decreasing rates among the age
groups were statistically significant in weight and
height (P<0.05) while in BMI, the difference was
not significant (F-value 1.563; P-value 0.200).
Table 3. Mean values
of body weight, height and body mass index (BMI) of
subjects according to age
|
50-59
years |
60-69
years |
70-79
years |
80
years and above |
Total |
F-value |
P-value |
| Weight(kg) |
79.75 ± 15.21 |
70.56 ± 12.58 |
69.25 ± 13.49 |
61.00 ± 10.62 |
70.98 ± 13.98 |
8.069 |
0.000 |
| Height(m) |
1.66 ± 0.07 |
1.61 ± 0.11 |
1.61 ± 0.09 |
1.54 ± 0.17 |
1.61 ± 0.11 |
4.113 |
0.008 |
| BMI(kg/m2) |
29.18 ± 5.86 |
27.25 ± 5.06 |
26.57 ± 4.61 |
26.70 ± 9.15 |
27.36 ± 5.60 |
1.563 |
0.200 |
DISCUSSION
Information on body composition
of the elderly is needed for proper evaluation of their
nutritional and functional status. The potential change
in body composition may lead to associated changes in
some other risk factors of diseases, especially for
elderly persons. However, little is known about the
value of anthropometric data for predicting the health
status of older people. As expected, our study found
the elderly men taller whereas the elderly women were
heavier with higher BMI. The higher value of mean weight
can be translated into the higher mean BMI. The finding
of higher BMI among the women in this study population
is comparable with that of Herng-Chia [11], which also
found elderly males taller than the females. A Nigerian
study on 65-78 year old subjects from rural and urban
areas of the south-western region of Nigeria also reported
that male subjects were significantly taller than female
subjects [12]. Therefore, the higher body weight among
the elderly females could be contributed to fat deposits
rather than skeletal weight since the male were taller.
A decreasing pattern of height, weight, and BMI values
with age was demonstrated among the elderly in this
our study. The magnitude of decrease in the BMI, weight
and height were relatively more before the age of 60
years and after 80 years. This revealed that from the
age of 60 to 80 years the elderly demonstrate minimal
change in their nutritional status. Previous studies
had reported an increasing trend in BMI only up to older
adults [13,14]. Also, Kuczmarski and his associates[7]
confirmed that the mean values of BMI increased with
each 10-year increment until 50 through 59 years of
age for both men and women and then decreased with age.
Though this study showed significant decline in height
and weight with the subjects' age, however, the non
significant decline in their BMI with age could be attributed
to the low magnitude in their decline in weight. This
is because Launer [9] reported that for BMI to decline
with age, weight must also decline and to a greater
extent than height.
CONCLUSION
This study demonstrated that
the body weight, height and BMI of the elderly in Asaba,
Nigeria decline with age. It also revealed that nutritional
status of the elderly has minimal changes in anthropometric
measures as from age of 60 years to 80 years.
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