Some Physical Functions of Aging People in an Agricultural Village

The labor force of the younger men in Japan has been centered in urban regions for these several years. Consequently in the rural regions, the role of the older people there is becoming important more and more, and their labor force should be re-evaluated in the present time. Thus, these investigations were made on some physiological functions of the forty years and older aged people in an agricultural distirct. Standing height, body weight, chest circumference, sitting vertex height, back muscular power and vital capacity of aging people have a tendency to decrease with age and those in male have larger values than those in female. Especially in back muscular power the declining rate of men is more remarkable than that of women. In arm circumference there is no great difference between right and left, between sexes and among the four age groups. Comparing the present data in the rural population to the Japanese average value, the former was neither taller nor heavier, smaller in muscularity, skeletal development or fatness. Hand grip pressure decreases with age in both men and women and has difference between right and left, and sexes. This tendency is in accordance with the report of SCHWARZ11) et al. The mean systolic blood pressure rises with age until 79 years but mean diastolic blood pressures do scarcely vary or slightly decrease. This fact is similar to the report of LASSER18) and MASTER with 80,000 normal subjects. F.E.V. 1.0% has no difference between sexes, and, in male, it decreases with age. All the values are in the range 70-80%. NAKAMURA21) TAKIJIMA state in their report that F.E.V. 1.0% shows decreasing tendency with age and the normal value is over 70%. Hearing deficiency in high pitched tone increases remarkably with age, and the visual acuity of aging people is as follows