Predicting Age from Body Measurements and Observations

Abstract

From 51 body measurements and two qualitative observations on 600 men ranging in age from the third to the eighth decade of life (mean age, 43 years), sixteen measurements plus grayness of hair and baldness were entered into a multiple-regression equation to predict chronologic age. Ten variables gave an R of 0.77, predicting age with a standard error of estimate 5.88 years. The predictors, in order of their contribution, were grayness of hair (r = 0.64), hand grip, ear breadth and length, sitting height, nose breadth, bideltoid breadth, abdominal depth, triceps skinfold, and baldness. Eight variables did not contribute significantly: height, weight, chest depth and expansion, bi-iliac breadth, upper arm and calf circumferences, and nose length. Functional traits predicted age more closely than did gross body dimensions.