Differences Between Nurse's Estimates
TABLE |
and Chronologic Age
(by Sex and Exposure Group)
Sex
Group |
Group 2
Male
— .803
—.776
Female
+.280
+.163
Group 3
Group 4
Total
—1.09)
—.182
—.701
+.035
+.183
+.165
Mean differences in age
Number of cases
Male
122
98
1190
121
45]
. Female
232
208
227
186
853
The various tests were performed on
elements
of
this
sample,
which
com-
prised hundreds of consecutive subjects
'. who were examined during a period of
several months.
Estimate of age. One nurse, by a simple inspection of the subjects as they
entered the clinic, recorded her estimate
of each subject's age for comparison
with actual chronologic age (table 1).
Skin retractility, skin fold size, and
skin looseness. These estimates were in
most instances made by the same nurse,
who used a simple multipurpose spring
pincer-caliper designed by one of the
authors (R. A. Conard). This instrument had previously been used in studies
of aging on a group of Marshall Island
natives exposed to fallout from a Bikini
bomb test in 1954.78 The device is illustrated in figure II. Observations were
made on 609 patients—their ages, sex,
and exposure-group distribution are
shown in table 2.
The skin retractility test simply measures the time required for a standard
“pinch” to retract. Skin at the base of the
right thumb, just lateral to the anatomic
snuffbox, was caught in a l-cm. opening
of the pincer for a period of one minute.
The time in seconds required for the
skin to retract fully after release of the
pincer was recordec
GERIATRICS, JANUARY 1961
The skin fold under the chin was
measured for thickness. The patient sat
erect, the pincer was opened to 2 cm.,
and the two hands of the pincer were
fitted firmly to the undersurface of the
mandible. The pincer was allowed to
close, and the length of the skin fold
caught in the pincer was recorded from
the calibrations on the side of the pincer
arms. In the studies on the Marshallese
people,? skin retractility was measured
several centimeters above the knuckles
on the back of the hands. Skin fold
measurements were done at the junction of the neck and chin; graying of
the hair was measured on a 0-4-+ scale.
FIG. 1. Multipurpose spring pincer-caliper used
for skin retractility, skin fold size, and skin
looseness tests.
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