The Equation of Prediction Stature Based on Age and Ethnic in Six Institutionalized Elderly at DKI Jakarta and Tangerang, Year 2005

Abstract

Height is an important clinical indicator to derive body mass index (BMI) predicting the nutritional status. However, height measurement in the elderly may impose some difficulties and the reliability is doubtful. Equations estimating height from knee height parameter to predict stature in elderly i.e. Chumlea have been developed, but no one study has developed an equation for Indonesian population according to variety of ethnics. Therefore, a cross sectional study was conducted to develop equations using two types of anthropometric measurements (knee height and arm span) for estimating stature in Indonesian elderly. A total of 217 elderly (aged 60 to 92 years old) from three major ethnic groups Javanese (56.7%), Chinese (31.3%), and others (12.0%) participated in this study. Anthropometric measurement included body weight, height, arm span, and knee height were carried out by trained nutritionist. Inter and intra observer errors was calculated for each anthropometric measurement of arm span and knee height of elderly. Main findings of this study were the mean of age of Chinese was the highest among other ethnics; the most elderly suffered from underweight (43%); the distribution of mean knee height and arm span was almost similar in each ethnic group; there was a significant difference between knee height with stature in elderly women, and the highest correlation indicated by knee height in elderly women and arm span in elderly men. Chumlea equation showed tend to be under-estimate in stature of elderly men and over-estimate in stature of elderly women. In conclusion, standing height is an ideal technique for estimating the stature of elderly. However, in cases where its measurement is not possible or reliable, height can be estimated from proxy indicators of stature. In this study, arm span showed the highest correlation with standing height in elderly men, and knee height in elderly women.