Biological anthropology of aging--past, present and future. 2003

Gillian H Ice
Department of Social Medicine, Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Ohio, USA.

Biological anthropologists have a strong tradition of studying growth and development and research on aging has been limited. This paper explores the past and current contribution of biological anthropologists to the field of aging through an examination of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology (AJPA) and the American Journal of Human Biology (AJHB). It is clear from this survey that biological anthropologists and human biologists have predominantly studied growth and developmental processes relative to aging. However, there is a trend of increasing interest in aging over time. In the AJHB, papers discussing chronic disease were predominant, followed by reproductive aging (19%), bone aging (15%) and body composition (10%). Within the AJPA, the majority of articles were in the field of human biology (43%) and bioarchaelogy (42%) with a lesser contribution from primatology (14%) and dermatogliphics (1%). Biological anthropologists still have great potential to make contributions to gerontology with our evolutionary and holistic perspectives and focus on cross-cultural research.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D003466 Cultural Characteristics Those aspects or characteristics which identify a culture. Ethnic Boundary Maintenance,Boundary Maintenance, Ethnic,Boundary Maintenances, Ethnic,Characteristic, Cultural,Characteristics, Cultural,Cultural Characteristic,Ethnic Boundary Maintenances,Maintenance, Ethnic Boundary,Maintenances, Ethnic Boundary
D005853 Geriatrics The branch of medicine concerned with the physiological and pathological aspects of the aged, including the clinical problems of senescence and senility. Gerontology
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000375 Aging The gradual irreversible changes in structure and function of an organism that occur as a result of the passage of time. Senescence,Aging, Biological,Biological Aging
D000883 Anthropology The science devoted to the comparative study of man.

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