The prognostic significance of weight and of vitamin C status in the elderly.

Eight hundred and thirty elderly subjects who were seen in a nutritional survey were followed up after eight years. A marked decline of body weight with age, which had been evident in the original cross-sectional data, appeared to be due to a loss of weight in individuals rather than to any survival advantages of less obese persons. Indeed, over the age of 70 years the survivors tended to have been heavier when originally seen than those who died, suggesting that an above-average weight is a favourable prognostic factor in old age. There was a tendency for the women who died to have had lower ascorbic-acid levels than those who survived, but this was not obviously related to any one cause of death. Although it is possible that a poor vitamin C status increases mortality, the associations reported are probably due to the fact that elderly persons who are biologically younger than their contemporaries tend in consequence to be heavier and to have higher ascorbic acid levels and lower mortality rates than others of their chronological age.