In a study, European researchers examined how changes in body size affect life expectancy.
It is said that one group in particular is affected.
At the age of 80, very few people are still as tall as they were when they were 25. This is no longer worrying, but a normal aging process. The shrinkage in old age can be explained by poor posture or thinning intervertebral discs. A team of researchers from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark looked into the question of
whether shrinkage in old age has an impact on lifespan * - with surprisingly clear results.
The researchers were able to show that there is a connection between lost body size and the risk of death.
According to the researchers, women in particular, who shrink significantly with age, have an increased risk of premature death
, according to the
study published
on the
BMJ Open
specialist portal
.
“The loss of height is a marker of increased mortality in northern European women,” the researchers concluded.
You might also be interested in:
Amazing: This factor really influences whether you stay healthy in old age
Anyway, small body size and movement protect against shrinking in old age
For their study, the Danish and Swedish study authors evaluated the data from 2,406 Swedish and Danish women. The study participants were born between 1908 and 1952 and were between 30 and 60 years old at the start of the study.
Another examination, including a comparison of body size, took place ten to 13 years after the first analysis.
Deaths were recorded 17-19 years after the second examination.
After deducting other factors such as alcohol consumption and level of education, which could have an influence on the risk of death, the researchers from the
Fitbook.de
portal
came
to the conclusion that every centimeter lost in old age is associated with a 14 to 21 percent increased risk of premature death. Most serious is a loss of size of over two centimeters:
study participants aged 50 and over who had shrunk by more than two centimeters during the observation period were twice as likely to die from a stroke or other heart disease, according to the study.
According to the researchers, however, shrinkage can be prevented: "
Small body size and high levels of physical activity in leisure time
at the start of the study were protective against loss of height, regardless of age," the researchers said.
(jg) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA