The Adult Growth Examination: Preliminary Comparisons of Physical Aging in Adults by Sex and Race

Abstract

That physical aging proceeds at different rates for different groupings of people is illustrated by a preliminary five-item form of a test of body age This Adult Growth Examination (AGE) test was based on norms of hearing, blood, and dental measures from a sample of several thousand Ss examined in a National Health Survey of a representative American sample. Median body age comparisons showed men to age more quickly than women until the age of 50. From 30 on, Negro males have aged an average of 5 more yr. than white males, with the deficit increasing past 50. Women appeared to age fastest in their forties (23 yr. of aging in 10 yr. of calendar); Negro males, starting even with white males at 21, collect their 5-yr. disadvantage between then and 30 (13 yr. of aging in 9 yr. of calendar), their first decade of adult life.