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Somatotype in Alzheimer's disease
Roberto Buffa1, Marco Lodde, Giovanni Floris
1Dipartimento di Biologia sperimentale, Sezione di Scienze antropologiche, Università di Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
Gerontology
|March 10, 2007
Summary
Alzheimer
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Neurology
- Anthropometry
Background:
- Alzheimer's disease (AD) presents with variations in anthropometry and body composition.
- Somatotyping offers a non-invasive method for assessing body types.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize the somatotype of individuals with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease.
- To compare the somatotypes of Alzheimer's patients with a healthy control group.
Main Methods:
- The Heath-Carter somatotype method was employed.
- A sample of 55 Alzheimer's patients (mild-moderate stage) was assessed.
- A control group of 280 healthy individuals was included for comparison.
Main Results:
- Alzheimer's patients exhibited significantly lower mesomorphy and higher ectomorphy compared to controls, particularly in women.
- Mean somatotype for male AD patients: 6.1-5.5-0.8; female AD patients: 7.0-5.3-0.7.
- Mean somatotype for male controls: 6.1-6.3-0.6; female controls: 7.7-6.3-0.4.
Conclusions:
- Alzheimer's disease patients display distinct somatometric characteristics.
- Somatotyping is a valuable technique for studying and monitoring physical changes in Alzheimer's patients.
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