Anthropometric measurements in elderly assisted in primary health care and their association with gender, age and frailty syndrome: EMI-SUS data

Aims: To describe anthropometric measurements and analyze their association with gender, age, and frailty syndrome in elderly assisted in primary health care. Methods: This cross-sectional study is part of the Multidimensional Study of the Elderly in the Family Health Strategy in Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil (EMI-SUS). Twenty-seven anthropometric measurements (analyzed in isolation or in equations, totaling 41 measurements) and data for determining the frailty (Fried Phenotype) were collected from elderly individuals. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Student t test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for statistical analysis, considering a confidence level of 95%. Results: The sample included 583 elderly, of whom 371 (63.6%) were women. Men presented significantly higher means for weight, height, knee-height; forearm, muscle arm, neck and wrist circumferences; muscle arm area; ratios for waist-to-hip, waist-to-thigh, and trunk-to-skinfolds-extremities; and sagittal and conicity indexes. Women showed higher means for body mass index; arm, waist, thigh and hip circumferences; biceps, triceps, subscapular, suprailiac, pectoral, thigh, calf, and mean of six skinfolds; fat arm area, waist-to-height ratio and sagittal abdominal diameter-to-height ratio. The younger elderly presented higher measures of forearm, arm, muscle arm and thigh circumferences; and muscle arm area, in relation to the older. The robust elderly had higher measures of height, knee-height, muscle arm circumference and muscle arm area; and lower fat arm area, thigh, pectoral, biceps, triceps and calf skinfolds; and sagittal abdominal diameter-to-height ratio, than the pre-frail and frail seniors. The frail elderly had lower calf and forearm circumferences than the robust elderly, and higher waist-to-height, waist-to-thigh and waist-to-calf ratios, and conicity and sagittal indexes. Conclusions: Anthropometric measures were associated with gender, age and frailty. In men, the mean measures of size, build and muscle mass reserve were higher. In women, the mean measures of fat reserve were higher and the association of the measures with age group was more frequent. Frailty proved to be associated with muscle mass loss. The frail elderly had lower measures of size and complexion.