Age and Ageing, Vol 29, 235-242, Copyright © 2000 by British Geriatrics Society
M Samson, I Meeuwsen, A Crowe, J Dessens, S Duursma and H Verhaar
Objective. We measured muscle strength and functional
mobility in healthy men and women over the adult age range to investigate
the changes with age and sex, and to establish the effects of the
anthropometric indices height and weight.Design.
Cross-sectional study.Subjects and methods.
We recruited 74 healthy women (mean age 49.0, range 20-90) and
81 healthy men (mean age 51.6, range 20-90). We measured maximum isometric
knee extension strength, handgrip strength and explosive leg extensor
power. We assessed functional mobility quantitatively with the timed 'get
up and go' test and the modified Cooper test.Results.
Older subjects had lower values for muscle strength and muscle
power than young subjects. Times for the timed 'get up and go' test were
longer and distances in the modified Cooper test shorter. At about the age
of 55, women showed an acceleration in the decline of isometric knee
extension strength and handgrip strength (between 20 and 55 years, knee
strength decreased by 10.3% and handgrip strength decreased by 8.2%,
between 55 and 80 years the decreases were 40.2% and 28% respectively). Men
showed a more gradual declines over the adult age range, with decreases in
knee and handgrip strength of 24% and 19.6% between 20 and 55 years, and
23% and 17.4% between 55 and 80 years. The age-related decline is partly
associated with differences in height and body weight. Women had higher
correlations between muscle strength and functional mobility tests than
men.Conclusion. Muscle strength and functional
mobility decline with age in healthy people; in women we observed an
accelerated decrement in muscle strength above the age of 55. Lower values
in healthy old subjects are partly associated with differences in height
and body weight.Keywords: age, height, physical
performance, weight
ARTICLES
Relationships between physical performance measures, age, height and body weight in healthy adults
Mobility Laboratory, Department of Geriatrics, Utrecht University Hospital, PO Box 855000, 3508 GA, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Utrecht University Faculty of Social Science, Department of Methodology and Statistics, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Corresponding author; Fax: (+31) 302544397; E-mail: samson@gaaz.azu.nl
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