Age-dependent changes in morphometric and biochemical traits.

This morphometric investigation was based on an anthropological cross-sectional study of five age groups in Israel: (1) newborn infants; (2) 7-year olds; (3) 18-29 years old; (4) 30-60 years old; and (5) 80 years and older. Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) of eight bilateral traits and coefficients of variation (CV) for 21 standard anthropometric traits were investigated in these groups. The results show that the values of FA and CV increase significantly among older people. The frequency of blood groups and enzymatic alleles (13 polymorphic systems), as well as heterozygosities (H), were estimated in two age groups: adults (33-45 yr) and old (80-85 yr) people. Gene frequency distributions conformed with the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and were similar in both these populations. Estimates of mean individual H were nonsignificantly lower in the old population.