For the purpose to increase measurements of basal metabolism of the aged in number, one hundred aged persons over 60 years old were investigated in the summer of 1956. The following measurements were made: basal metabolism, bodystructure, vital capacity, blood pressure, whole blood specific gravity, serum cholesterol, and nitrogen and creatinin in urine.
Results obtained were as follows:
1) The basal metabolisms per square meter per hour of the aged were 33.7Cal. (60-69 yrs.), 32.1Cal. (70-79yrs.) for men, and 32.9Cal. (60-69yrs.), 31.2Cal. (70-79yrs.), 31.3Cal. (80-89yrs.) for women. These values show only a 3 per cent sexual difference, which is generally much larger in the younger.
2) This inclination of decrease in sexual difference was also observed in skinfold-thickness. In the younger, female skinfold-thickness is usually more than two times as compared with males, but such a sexual difference was found to decrease to a half in the aged.
3) Problems of hypertension and arteriosclerosis are of importance here in the aged. Blood pressures of more than 20% of the subjects exceeded 200mg Hg, but the concentration of serum cholesterol was 178mg/dl for males, and 197mg/dl for females, which were considered to be rather low levels for their age.
