Available anthropometric information on the elderly in the United States is discussed. Demographic data as well as information on performance capabilities and limitations (such as strength, endurance, and mobility) are needed for ergonomic design of tools, utensils, equipment, and vehicles to improve the working and living environment for the elderly. Recommendations are made for collection of more information.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Adams, J. A. (1989). Human factors engineering.New York: Macmillan.
2.
Adams, P., Davies, G. T., and Sweetname, P. (1970). Osteoporosis and the effects of aging on bone mass in elderly men and women. Quarterly Journal of Medicine, 39, 601–615.
3.
Andrisani, P. J. (1977). Effect of health problems on the work experience of middle-aged men. Industrial Gerontology, 4(2), 97–111.
4.
Bailey, R. W. (1982). Human performance engineering: A guide for systems designers.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
5.
Borkan, G. A., Hults, D. E., Gerzof, S. G., and Robbins, A. H. (1983). Comparison of body composition in middle-aged and elderly males using computed tomography. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 66, 289–295.
6.
Borkan, G. A., Hults, D. E., and Glynn, R. J. (1983). Role of longitudinal change and secular trend in age differences in male body dimensions. Human Biology, 55, 629–641.
7.
Brody, J. A., and Brock, D. B. (1985). Epidemiological and statistical characteristics of the United States elderly population. In C. E. Finch and E. L. Schneider (Eds.), Handbook of the biology of aging (pp. 3-26). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
8.
Brotman, H. B. (1973). The largest and fastest-growing minority: The aging. In T. D. Byerts (Ed.), Housing and environment for the elderly (pp. 3-7). Washington, DC: Gerontological Society.
9.
Buckle, P. W. (1985). Self-reported anthropometry. Ergonomics, 28, 1575–1577.
10.
Burke, W. E., Tuttle, W. W., Thompson, C. W., Janney, C. D., and Weber, R. J. (1953). The relation of grip strength and grip-strength endurance to age. Applied Physiology, 5, 628–630.
11.
Butler, R. N. (1983). Current data inconclusive about ages health and work, Aging and Work, 6, 187–195.
12.
Cameron, N. (1986). The methods of auxological anthropometry. In F. Faulkner and J. M. Tanner (Eds.), Human growth: A comprehensive treatment (Vol. 3, pp. 3-46). New York: Plenum.
13.
Chapanis, A. (1974). Human engineering environments for the aged. Applied Ergonomics, 5, 72–80.
14.
Chirikos, T. N., and Nestel, G. (1985). Longitudinal analysis of functional disabilities in older men. Journal of Gerontology, 40, 426–433.
15.
Chumlea, W. C., Roche, A. F., and Rogers, E. (1984). Replicability for anthropometry in the elderly. Human Biology, 56, 329–337.
16.
Clement, F. J. (1974). Longitudinal and cross-sectional assessment of age changes in physical strength as related to sex, social class, and mental ability. Journal of Gerontology, 29, 423–429.
17.
Corlett, E. N., Eklund, J. A. E., Reilly, T., and Troup, J. D. G. (1987). Assessment of workload from measurements of stature. Applied Ergonomics, 18, 65–71.
18.
Czaja, S. J. (1990). Human factors research needs for an aging population.Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
19.
Damon, A., Seltzer, C. C., Stoudt, H. W., and Bell, B. (1972). Age and physique in healthy white veterans at Boston. Journal of Gerontology, 27, 202–208.
20.
Damon, A., and Stoudt, H. W. (1963). The functional anthropometry of old men. Human Factors, 5, 485–491.
21.
Dawson, D., Hendershot, G., and Fulton, J. (1987). Aging in the eighties: Functional limitations of individuals 65 years and over. National Center for Health Statistics Advance Data, 133, 1–11.
22.
de Vries, H. A. (1970). Physiological effects of an exercise training regimen upon men aged 52 to 88. Journal of Gerontology, 25, 325–336.
23.
Dwyer, J. T., Coleman, K. A., Krall, E., Yang, G. A., Scanlan, M., Galper, L., Winthrop, E., and Sullivan, P. (1987). Changes in relative weight among institutionalized elderly adults. Journal of Gerontology, 42, 246–257.
24.
Eastman Kodak Company. (Ed.). (1983). Ergonomic design for people at work (Vol. I). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
25.
Eastman Kodak Company. (Ed.). (1986). Ergonomic design for people at work (Vol. 2). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
26.
Era, P., and Heikkinen, E. (1985). Postural sway during standing and unexpected disturbances of balance of men of different ages. Journal of Gerontology, 40, 287–295.
27.
Exton-Smith A. N. (1985). Mineral metabolism. In C. E. Finch and E. L. Schneider (Eds.), Handbook of the biology of aging (pp. 511-563). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
28.
Feldman, J. J. (1984). Work ability of the aged under conditions of improving mortality. Aging and Work, 6, 197–213.
29.
Fisher, M. B., and Birren, J. E. (1947). Age and strength. Journal of Applied Physiology, 31, 490–497.
30.
Fluegel, B., Greil, H., and Sommer, K. (1986). Anthropologischer Atlas [Anthropological atlas]. Berlin: Verlag Tribuene.
31.
Foreman, T. K.,. and Linge, K. (1989). The importance of heel compression in the measurement of diurnal stature variation. Applied Ergonomics, 20, 299–300.
32.
Fozard, J. L. (1981). Person-environment relationships in adulthood: Implications for human factors engineering. Human Factors, 23, 7–27.
33.
Friedlander, J. S., Costa, P. T., Bosse, R., Ellis, E., Rhoads, J. G., and Stoudt, H. W. (1977). Longitudinal physique changes among healthy white veterans at Boston. Human Biology, 49, 541–558.
34.
Frush, J. (1968). The retirement residence. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas.
35.
Gam, S. M. (1975). Bone loss and aging. In R. Goldman and M. Mockstein (Eds.), The physiology and pathology of aging (pp. 39-57). New York: Academic.
36.
Goldstein, H. (1986). Sampling for growth studies. In F. Faulkner and J. M. Tanner (Eds.), Human growth: a comprehensive treatment (Vol. 3, pp. 59-78). New York: Plenum.
37.
Guralnik, J. M., LaCroix, A. Z., Everett, D. F., and Kovar, M. G. (1989). Aging in the eighties: The prevalence of comorbidity and its association with disability. National Center for Health Statistics Advance Data, 170.
38.
Haslegrave, C. M. (1980). Anthropometric profile of the British car driver. Ergonomics, 23, 437–467.
39.
Haslegrave, C. M. (1986). Characterizing the anthropometric extremes of the population. Ergonomics, 29, 287–301.
40.
Hasselkus, B. R., and Shamber, G. M. (1975). Aging and postural sway in women. Journal of Gerontology, 30, 661–667.
41.
Healy, M. J. R. (1986). Statistics of growth standards. In F. Faulkner and J. M. Tanner (Eds.), Human growth: A comprehensive treatment (Vol. 3, pp. 47-58). New York: Plenum.
42.
Hertzberg, H. T. E. (1968). The conference on standardization of anthropometric techniques and terminology. American Journal of Physical Anthropometry, 28(1), 1–16.
43.
Hertzberg, H. T. E. (1972). Engineering anthropology. In H. P. Van Cott and R. G. Kinkada (Eds.), Human engineering guide to equipment design (pp. 468-584). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
44.
Hoff, C., and Blackburn, W. R. (1981). A multivariate discriminant method for comparing growth data in a study group with age-matched means and standard deviations. Human Biology, 53, 513–520.
45.
Huchingson, R. D. (1981) New horizons for human factors in design. New York: McGraw-Hill.
46.
Institute for Consumer Ergonomics. (1981). Seated anthropometry: The problems involved in a large-scale survey of disabled and elderly people. Ergonomics, 24, 831–845.
47.
Juergens, H. W. (1984). Anthropometric reference systems. In H. Schmidtke (Ed.), Ergonomic data for equipment design (pp. 93-100). New York: Plenum.
48.
Kavanaugh, T., and Shephard, R. J. (1978). The effects of continued training on the aging process. Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 301, 656-670.
49.
Kroemer, K. H. E. (1981). Engineering anthropometry: Designing the work place to fit the human. In Proceedings, Annual Conference, American Institute of Industrial Engineers (pp. 119-126). Norcross, GA: American Institute of Industrial Engineers.
50.
Kroemer, K. H. E. (1983). Engineering anthropometry: Designing the work place to fit the user. In D. J. Oborne and M. M. Gruneberg (Eds.), The physical environment (pp. 39-64). Chichester, England: Wiley.
51.
Kroemer, K. H. E. (1989). Engineering anthropometry. Ergonomics, 32, 767–784.
52.
Kroemer, K. H. E., Kroemer, H.J., and Kroemer Elbert, K. E. (1990). Engineering physiology: Physiologic bases of ergonomics (2nd ed.). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
53.
Kroemer, K. H. E., Snook, S. H., Meadows, S. K., and Deutsch, S. (1988). Ergonomic models of anthropometry, human biomechanics, and operator-equipment interfaces.Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
54.
Kutscher, R. E. (1989, October 13). Outlook 2000: Bureau of Labor Statistics Office of Employment projections. Paper presented at the Planning Workshop, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia.
55.
Lamphiear, D. E., and Montoye, H. J. (1976). Muscular strength and body size. Human Biology, 48, 147–160.
56.
Latin, R. W., Johnson, S. C., and Ruhling, R. O. (1987). An anthropometric estimation of body composition of older men. Journal of Gerontology, 42, 24–28.
57.
Lawton, M. P. (1975). Planning and managing housing for the elderly. New York: Wiley.
58.
Lohman, T. G., Roche, A. F., and Martorell, R. (1988). Anthropometric standardization reference manual. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Books.
59.
McClelland, I. L., and Ward, J. S. (1982). The ergonomics of toilet seats. Human Factors, 24, 713–725.
60.
McConville, J. T., Robinette, K. M., and Churchill, T. (1981). An anthropometric data base for commercial design applications (Final Report, NSF-DAR 80 09 861). Yellow Springs, OH: Anthropology Research Project.
61.
Molenbroek, J. F. M. (1987). Anthropometry of elderly people in the Netherlands: Research and applications. Applied Ergonomics, 18, 187–199.
62.
Montoye, H. J. (1982). Age and oxygen utilization during submaximal treadmill exercise in males. Journal of Gerontology, 37, 396–402.
63.
Morrison, M. H. (1984). The aging of the U.S. population: Human resource implications. Aging and Work, 7, 79–83.
64.
Murray, M. P., Duthie, E. H., Gambert, S. R., Sepic, S. B., and Mollinger, L. A. (1985). Age-related differences in knee-muscle strength in normal women. Journal of Gerontology, 40, 275–280.
65.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Webb, P. (Eds.) (1978). Anthropometric source book: A handbook of anthropometric data (NASA Reference Publication 1024). Washington, DC: Author.
66.
Parnianpour, M., Frankel, V. H., and Nordin, M. (1989). Safety and older workers in the workplace. In A. Mital (Ed.), Advances in industrial ergonomics and safety I (pp. 367-374). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
67.
Parsons, H. M. (1981). Residential design for the aging (For example, the bedroom). Human Factors, 23, 39–58.
68.
Patrick, J. M. (1985). Surprise and delight: Statistical methods in ergonomics. Ergonomics, 28, 529–530.
69.
Pearson, M. B., Bassey, E. J., and Bendall, M. J. (1985). Muscle strength and anthropometric indices in elderly men and women. Age and Aging, 14, 49–54.
70.
Petrofsky, J. S., and Lind, A. R. (1975). Aging, isometric strength, and endurance and cardiovascular responses to static effort. Journal of Applied Physiology, 38, 91–95.
71.
Pfeffer, R. T., Kurosaki, T. T., Harrah, C. H., Chance, J. M., and Filos, S. (1982). Measurement of functional activities in older adults in the community. Journal of Gerontology, 37, 323–329.
72.
Pheasant, S. (1986). Bodyspace, London: Taylor & Francis.
73.
Pollock, M. L., Miller, H. S., and Wilmore, J. (1974). Physiological characteristics of champion track athletes 40 to 75 years of age. Journal of Gerontology, 29, 645–649.
74.
Roebuck, J. A., Kroemer, K. H. E., and Thomson, W. G. (1975). Engineering anthropometry methods. New York: Wiley.
75.
Roozbazar, A., and Bosker, G. W. (1979). A theoretical model to estimate some ergonomic parameters from age, height, and weight. Ergonomics, 22, 43–48.
76.
Salvendy, G. (Ed.). (1987). Handbook of human factors.New York: Wiley.
77.
Sanders, M. S., and McCormick, E. J. (1987). Human factors in engineering and design (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
78.
Shock, N. W. (1985). Longitudinal studies of aging in humans. In C. E. Finch and E. L. Schneider (Eds.), Handbook of the biology of aging (pp. 721-743). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
79.
Singer, L. D. (Ed.). (1988). A bathroom for the elderly (Report of the College of Architecture on Grant 230-11-110H-150-8903081). Blacksburg, VA: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
80.
Small, A. M. (1987). Design for older people. In G. Salvendy (Ed.), Handbook of human factors (pp. 495-504). New York: Wiley.
81.
Snook, S. H. (1971). The effects of age and physique on continuous work capacity. Human Factors, 13, 467–479.
82.
Snyder, R. G., Spencer, M. L., Owings, C. L., and Schneider, L. W. (1975). Physical characteristics of children (UM-HSRI-BI-75-5). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, Highway Safety Research Institute.
83.
Steidl, R. E., and Nelson, L. M. (1972). The ergonomics of environmental design and activity management for the aging. Council of Planning Librarians Exchange Bibliography, 255, 1–76.
84.
Stones, M. J., and Kozma, A. (1985). Physical performance. In N. Charness (Ed.), Aging and human performance (pp. 261-291). New York: Wiley.
85.
Stoudt, H. W. (1981). The anthropometry of the elderly. Human Factors, 23, 29–37.
86.
Stubbs, D. A. (1985). Human constraints on manual working capacity: Effects on intratruncal pressure. Ergonomics, 28, 107–114.
87.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. (1984). Demographic and socioeconomic aspects of aging in the United States. In Current Population Reports, Series P-23 (p. 138). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
88.
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. (1978a). Consumer product-related injuries treated in hospital emergency rooms Jan. 1, 1976-Dec. 31, 1976 (HIA Special Report). Washington, DC: Author.
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. (1980). Hazard identification and analysis. NEISS Data Highlights, 4(2), 1–4.
92.
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. (1981). Hazard identification and analysis. NEISS Data Highlights, 5(1), 1–4.
93.
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. (1982). Directorate for epidemiology. NEISS Data Highlights, 6(3), 1–4.
94.
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (1986). Safety for older consumers. Washington, DC: Author.
95.
Viitasalo, J. T., Era, P., Leskinen, A. L., and Heikkinen, E. (1985). Muscular strength profiles and anthropometry in random samples of men aged 31-35, 51-55 and 71-75 years. Ergonomics, 28, 1563–1574.
96.
Wantz, M. S., and Gay, J. E. (1981). The aging process: A health perspective. Cambridge, MA: Winthrop.
97.
Weber, F., Barnard, R. J., and Roy, D. (1983). Effects of a high-complex-carbohydrate, low-fat diet, and daily exercise on individuals 70 years of age and older. Journal of Gerontology, 38, 155–161.
98.
Whitbourne, S. K. (1985). The aging body: Physiological and psychological changes.New York: Springer-Verlag.
99.
Whitton, J. T. (1973). New values for epidermal thickness and their importance. Health Physics, 24, 1–8.
100.
Wyshak, G. (1981). Hip fracture in elderly women and reproductive history. Journal of Gerontology, 36. 424–427.
101.
Yearick, E. S. (1978). Nutritional status of the elderly: Anthropometric and clinical findings. Journal of Gerontology, 33, 657–662.