Body Composition in 70‐year‐old Males and Females in Gothenburg, Sweden a Population Study

The objectives of this substudy within the population study “70‐year‐old people in Gothenburg, Sweden” were to determine the body composition of the probands and to clarify possible relationships between results of these body compartment determinations and more simple somatometric variables. The cross‐sectional data will be used as a basis for a prospective longitudinal geriatric/gerontological study. The subsample comprised 66 males and 76 females, of whom 49 males and 56 females underwent a complete examination. The probands examined were considered representative of the 70‐year‐old population in Gothenburg. Total body potassium was estimated by using a whole body counter and total body water with an isotope dilution technique using tritiated water as a tracer. Body cell mass, intracellular and extracellular water, body fat and fat‐free extracellular solids were then calculated from body weight, total body potassium and total body water using certain assumptions, the relevance of which in this age group is discussed. Average values of body weight were 76.2 kg and 66.3 kg, of body cell mass 28.1 kg and 20.3 kg and of body fat 12.5 kg and 18.1 kg in males and females, respectively. It was possible from body weight and subscapular skinfold in males and from body weight, thigh and triceps skinfold in females to reach a proportion of explained variance of body fat of 58 per cent and 76 per cent, respectively. There was a good correlation between body fat and the difference between body weight and “ideal body weight” as defined by Lindberg and collaborators, 1956. A preliminary comparison between the current data and corresponding data from cross‐sectional studies of middle‐aged individuals in Gothenburg showed that the amount of fat was similar in the two age groups. Body cell mass seemed to be of the same order of magnitude in 70‐year‐old as in middle‐aged females, but showed a lesser value in 70‐year‐old than in middle‐aged males.