Abstract
It is well known that the stature decreases with aging but the rate or onset age of this change have been rarely measured. The present paper describes the changes in physical characteristics with aging in cross-sectional measurements. Stature and the lengths of the trunk, headed neck, upper limb and lower limb were measured on 566 volunteers living in the Sagea Prefecture at the age of 50 to 94 year old (155 male and 411 female). The stature decreased with the age at the rate of −0.19 cm/year male, and −0.41 cm/year female. The female stature decreased a greater rate than the male stature. The male stature proposed non-age-related loss, while that for female decreased by aging precessed the rate of −0.29 cm/year, whereas the loss of stature for female was related with trunk length loss. The lengths of the lower limbs, the upper limbs and the head-neck did not decrease by aging.
