determined Current data on age changes
Anthropological cross-sectional study to elders in Germany
For the German population there is no recent data on physique and body measurements older people. Although the percentage of older people in society is constantly increasing, designers of products having to rely on anthropometric data of younger people. Older people are not involved. The report F 1299 the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health "Optimisation of ergonomic properties of products for older workers - anthropometry" now closes this gap.
The report that has now been published contains the results of an anthropometric study carried out by the University of Potsdam on behalf of the BAuA. 100 men and 50 women between the ages of 69 and 25 were examined. 20 men and 29 women between the ages of 61 and 10 took part as a comparison group. Using the standardized methods of classical anthropometry, 17 body measurements, 7 reach and grasping distances, XNUMX movement measurements and XNUMX hand strengths were examined for each person in the sample. In addition, the researchers determined physiological characteristics such as blood volume pulse, skin conductivity and respiratory rate at rest and while conducting psychomotor concentration tests. This made it possible to make statements about stress levels while the subjects were performing unknown tasks.
On the one hand, the results show that good nutrition and medical care have a positive effect on the growth of future generations. They get bigger and heavier. This trend superimposes age changes in physique. On average, older adults are smaller and more corpulent than young adults. With increasing age, a decrease in length measurements and an increase in corpulence measurements can generally be observed. Likewise, older people have slightly wider hands than younger people, but significantly wider thumbs and forefingers. It is also noticeable that the ears continue to grow until the end of the age range examined. However, age changes begin early and continue continuously. Body mobility and body strength behave in a similar way to body dimensions. Here, too, there is no age-related drop in performance, but a gradual decrease in physical mobility and, in some cases, physical strength that begins early on.
In the psychomotor tests, it is noticeable that older adults usually need a little more time to complete an unfamiliar task. A clear drop in performance between the sixth and seventh decade of life could not be observed. The same applies to stress resilience.
Report F 1299 of the BAuA "Optimization of the ergonomic properties of products for older workers - anthropometry"; H Greil, A Voigt, C Scheffler; 165 pages; [PDF file] 3,5MB.
Source: Potsdam [ BAuA ]
