Prof Maria Crotty, Flinders University of South Australia
Ms Michelle Miller, Flinders University of South Australia
Ms Lynne Giles, Flinders University of South Australia
Ass Prof Lynne Daniels, Flinders University of South Australia
Dr Elaine Bannerman, Flinders University of South Australia
Dr Craig Whitehead, Repatriation General Hospital
Dr Lynne Cobiac, CSIRO Division Human Nutrition, South Australia
Prof Gary Andrews, Flinders University of South Australia

Please address proofs and reprints requests to: Prof Maria Crotty, Rehabilitation & Ageing Studies Unit, Repatriation General Hospital, Daws Road, DAW PARK SA 5041, AUSTRALIA. Ph. 00 61 08 8275 1103. Fax. 00 61 08 8275 1130. Email. maria.crotty@flinders.edu.au

The Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ALSA) aims to identify factors that contribute to & predict the health & social well-being of older Australians. Analyses were performed to determine the predictive value of anthropometric measurements in older Australians for four-year mortality.
Weight, height, skinfolds (triceps, abdominal, supra-spinale, sub-scapular, medial calf, and front thigh) & girth (arm, waist, hip, calf) measurements were performed on a randomly selected community-living sample of 772 men & 624 women aged >70 years. Waist:Hip, % weight loss, corrected-arm-muscle area (CAMA) & BMI were calculated. These measures were categorised into quartiles & also according to commonly adopted definitions of nutritional status. Cox regression analysis was undertaken to assess the predictive value of the independent anthropometric variables for four-year mortality, adjusting for potential confounders (age, gender, marital status, smoking, alcohol status, self-rated health, basic activities of daily living & co-morbidity).
Risk of four-year mortality increased with weight loss >10% over two years (HR=2.53, CI=1.37-4.67) & CAMA <21.4cm2(M) & <21.6cm2(F) (HR=1.93, CI=1.03-3.60) independent of confounding variables.
These results confirm that selected anthropometric indices (weight loss, CAMA) independently increase the risk of four-year mortality & highlights their potential use in the nutrition screening and assessment of community-living older adults.

Keywords: Elderly; Nutrition; Australian; Mortality; Anthropometry; Nutrition screening