ANNALS OF H U M A N BIOLOGY,

1990,

VOL.

17,

NO.

6,

533-541

Arm-span, height, and age in Black and White w o m e n M. F. STEELE~" a n d T. C. CHENIER~

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tDepartment of Nutrition and Hospitality Management, ~:Biostatistics/Epidemiology Research Programme, East Carotina University, USA

Received 1 April 1989; revised 16March 1990

Summary. This paper presents the results of an anthropometric study of 293 Black and 298 White females, ages 35-89 years, who were healthy, non-institutionalized residents of North Carolina. All subjects were measured for arm-span and height. Correlations of the two measures were obtained for each race independently. Additionally, age as a factor in armspan and height correlation for the two races was examined. Correlation of arm-span and height for Black subjects was 0-852 and for White subjects was 0-903. Age and height correlation for White women was - 0-237 and for Black women was - 0-114. Age and armspan correlation for White women was - 0-167 and for Black women was - 0-106. Separate equations for estimation of height based on age and arm-span were developed for women of the two races: height of White women (cm)= 2 9 - 5 8 - ( 0 . 0 4 x age)+ (0-81 x arm-span); height of Black women (cm) = 37.72 - (0-01 × age) + (0.73 x arm-span).

1. Introduction Estimates of height, as well as weight, are required for determination of basic energy requirements of hospital and nursing-home patients (Blackburn, Maini, Bistrian and Wade 1979) and for nutritional assessment of individuals, but frequently height cannot be measured directly because of contractures, deformities or amputations. Arm-span has been measured as an alternative measure, but few data are available regarding the relationship of height and arm-span in specific populations. It hs been reported that arm-span is approximately equal to height in Caucasians (Engstrom, Roche and Mukherjee 1981; Hamdy 1986) while arm-span is greater than height for the average Black person of medium height (Nurse, Weiner and Jenkins 1985). In a study of young women 23-28 years of age, Steele and Mattox (1987) observed that, on average, arm-span exceeded height by 8.3 cm for Blacks and 1-8 cm for Whites. The study reported herein asked the following questions: After the age of maximum height during the third decade of life (Noppa, Bengtsson, Bruce and Isaksson 1980), what is the correlation of arm-span with height in Black and White women? Are there racial differences in correlation of arm-span with height? Is age a factor in arm-span and height correlation in women of the two races?

2. Subjects and methods Subjects for the study were 591 women between the ages of 35 and 89 years; 293 were Black and 298 were White. All were healthy women, free from physical defects which would affect height or arm-span. The subjects were recruited from churches, clubs and shopping centres in eastern North Carolina. Informed consent was obtained from each subject, following protocols of the Policy and Review Committee on H u m a n Research of East Carolina University. The procedure for measuring arm-span was that described by Steele and Mattox (1987). The subject stood erect with upper back, buttocks and heels against the wall and 0301-4460/90 $3.00 © 1990 Taylor & Francis Ltd.

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534

M . F . Steele and T. C. Chenier

arms outstretched at right angles to the body with palms facing forward; the anthropometrist and assistant passed a flexible, calibrated steel tape from the end of middle finger of subject's right hand, over the clavicles, to the end of the subject's left middle finger, with a reading taken to the nearest 0" 1 cm. Height for each subject was determined by the method described by Steele and Spurgeon (1983). The subject, with shoes removed, stood on the platform of the Harpenden portable stadiometer; the upper back, buttocks and heels were pressed against the upright portion of the instrument. The subject's head was positioned in the Frankfort horizontal plane and the headplate was brought into firm contact with the vertex. Readings were taken to the nearest 0-1 cm. Each subject was measured twice for arm-span and height. When the two records for each dimension agreed within 0"4 cm, their mean was considered the best estimate of the true value. When the two initial measures did not satisfy the 0"4 criterion, two additional determinations were made, with the mean of the three closest records used as the best estimate. 3.

Results Height and arm-span means, standard deviations, and ranges for the Black and White women are shown in table 1. The arm-span for Black women was 8.7 cm longer than height on average; for White women, arm-span exceeded height, on average, by 3"3 cm. The correlation of height and arm-span for Black subjects was 0.852 and for White subjects was 0"903. Table 2 presents correlation coefficients stratified by race for arm-span, age and height. Because of the extremely advanced age of some subjects, the initial estimation of the race-specific relationship between height, arm-span and age included a quadratic Table 1.

A r m - s p a n and height in Black and White women. Black (n = 293)

Age (years) Height (cm) A r m - s p a n (cm)

White (n = 298)

Mean

SD

Range

Mean

SD

Range

55-9 162.3 171.0

12.0 5" 9 6" 8

35-86 144-185 150-194

54.9 161.5 164" 8

12.9 6- 0 6" 6

35-89 141-179 146-186

Table 2. Correlation coefficients and p-values for a r m - s p a n and height, a r m - s p a n and age, and age and height for Black and White women. Subjects

Correlation coefficient

A r m - s p a n a n d height Black White A r m - s p a n and age Black White Age and height Black White All are significant at p < 0.05.

0- 852 0.903 - 0.106 - 0-167 - 0-114 - 0.237

A r m - s p a n , height, a n d age in B l a c k a n d W h i t e w o m e n

535

Table 3. Equation for estimating height in Black and White women. d.f. White women Height from arm-span and age: Intercept Arm-span Age

Estimate

SE

t

Prob > t

1 1 1

29.578 0" 814 -0.041

3.92 0-023 0-012

7- 55 35" 72 - 3 -56

0.0001 0" 0001 0.0001

1 1 l

37.715 - 0.012 0.733

4" 72 0"015 0.027

7.99 - 0-76 27- 52

0- 0001 0-4460 0.0001

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SEE = 2.54 cm R E= 0" 823 Black women Height from arm-span and age: Intercept Arm-span Age SEE = 3.07

cm

R 2=

0" 727

term for the age variable. W h e n age, a g e - s q u a r e d a n d a r m - s p a n were s i m u l t a n e o u s l y used as p r e d i c t o r variables, the q u a d r a t i c t e r m for age was n o t significantly related to height for either race. Thus, only linear relationships b e t w e e n a r m - s p a n , age a n d height were estimated. F r o m the regression d a t a shown in table 3 the following f o r m u l a s for estimation o f height f r o m a r m - s p a n a n d age were developed: height o f W h i t e w o m e n (cm) = 29.58 - (0.04 x age) + (0.81 x a r m - s p a n ) ; height o f Black w o m e n (cm) = 37.72 - (0-01 x age) + (0.73 x a r m - s p a n ) . F o r these equations, a r m - s p a n m e a s u r e m e n t s are in centimetres a n d age is r o u n d e d to the nearest whole year. Overall these models p e r f o r m very a d e q u a t e l y in predicting height. C o n t r o l l i n g for variation in age a n d a r m - s p a n allows us to account for 82% o f the total v a r i a b i l i t y in height for W h i t e w o m e n a n d 73% o f height variability for Black w o m e n . The s t a n d a r d error o f estimate (SEE) was 2.54 cm for W h i t e w o m e n a n d 3-07 c m for Black w o m e n . W h e n c o m p a r i n g the two m o d e l s one notices that the estimates for age a n d a r m span differ numerically between Blacks and Whites. T h e r e was no significant difference in the slope o f the age variable (p = 0-12), b u t there was a significant difference in the slope o f the a r m - s p a n variable (p = 0.02). Thus we c a n n o t c o n c l u d e t h a t loss o f stature with increase in age differs across the two races, b u t there is a difference in the relationship between a r m - s p a n a n d height for the two races. Scatterplots o f height versus a r m - s p a n o f height versus age for Blacks a n d W h i t e s are presented in figures 1-4.

4.

Discussion A previous study o f 50 Blacks o f b o t h sexes, ages 22-49 years, f o u n d a c o r r e l a t i o n o f 0.87 between a r m - s p a n a n d height ( M c P h e r s o n , L a n c a s t e r a n d C a r r o l l 1978). This is r e m a r k a b l y similar to the 0-852 c o r r e l a t i o n for Black female subjects r e p o r t e d herein. A correlation o f 0.776 for a r m - s p a n a n d height was r e p o r t e d earlier (Steele a n d M a t t o x 1987) for Black w o m e n in the third decade o f life. F o r W h i t e w o m e n aged 23-28 years a correlation o f 0.894 for a r m - s p a n a n d height was r e p o r t e d (Steele a n d M a t t o x 1987), while the present study on older W h i t e w o m e n f o u n d a c o r r e l a t i o n o f 0"903.

536

M.F. Steele and T. C. Chenier

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Ann Hum Biol Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by University of North Carolina on 01/13/15 For personal use only.

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Arm-span, height, and age in black and white women.

This paper presents the results of an anthropometric study of 293 Black and 298 White females, ages 35-89 years, who were healthy, non-institutionaliz...
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