Morphological and constitutional comparison of age-matched in-vivo and post-mortem populations

Cadaver studies are often used as a reference in clinical studies and in-vivo Body Composition (BC). However, there is a paucity of comparative information between in-vivo and post-mortem populations. Forty living volunteers for the study (18 males and 22 females, age range 55-92 years) were age-matched with a sample of 26 well-preserved cadavers (13 males and 13 females). Twenty eight anthropometric variables were chosen, i.e. nine circumferences, eight breadths, four lengths, five skinfolds, weight and height. These were measured both in vivo and post-mortem. All measures were taken according to Martin and Saller (1957), Clauser et al. (1969) and Clarys et al. (1984). Normality verification, Variant Analysis (one way Anova) and Mollison transformations were used for the comparative treatment. Data from this study confirm that the in-vivo and post mortem macro morphology are in agreement. The best similarities were found between the female groups. This study confirms that cadaver research is reliable for the validation of in-vivo techniques and as a reference standard in the absence of other direct validation measures.