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Thursday, February 5, 2004
Height loss, within limits, is a normal fact of aging process
By Bob Guldin
SPECIAL TO WASHINGTON POST
I hadn’t seen my sister in
more than five years, and
when we met I could tell
right away that something
odd had happened. It wasn’t
the gray hair or the new
wrinkles — with both of us in
our forties, we expected that.
No, it was the perspective: I
wasn’t looking down at her
from the same angle I’d been
used to throughout our adult
lives. She wasn’t wearing
heels, so there was only one
explanation: I had gotten
shorter.
I was face-to-face with one
of the most common but
rarely discussed aspects of
aging — height loss. I didn’t
like it.
A little research showed
what I was up against.
Americans typically lose
between one and two inches
between the ages of 30 and
70, and after 70 the change
accelerates. I’ve dropped
from a height of 5 feet 111/2
inches in my twenties to 5-9
today.
“Height loss can happen as
early as the thirties,” said
Washington back specialist
David Borenstein, ‘T^ut peo
ple tend not to notice it when
the decrements are small. In
their fifties and sixties it
becomes obvious.”
Most orthopedic surgeons
and rheumatologists will tell
you there are two main rea
sons we get shorter as we got
older: our bones and our
disks. After 30, our bones get
thinner, less dense and more
porous. Especially in the
spine, they become suscepti
ble to microfractures, tiny
breaks we may not even
notice. When these breaks
happen in the vertebrae, our
spines become shorter, some
times curving forward as
well.
And as for the disks, those
wonderfully tough cartilage
cushions with soft centers
that separate the vertebrae
in the spine? Borenstein, a
rheumatologist and author of
“Back in Control” (M. Evans,
2001) said simply, “The shock
absorbers start wearing out.
The disks tend to flatten over
the years.”
The fact that I had arthri
tis, which sometimes
degrades both disks and
bones, had probably caused
me to lose more height than
my sister. Hence the surpris
ing, and annoying, difference
when we met.
Losing Stature
Like me, many people are
unhappy when they learn
they are getting shorter, and
no wonder. The litany of sta
tistics suggesting a lower
quality of life for those who
live closer to the ground is
alarming: A survey of gradu
ates of the University of
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Pittsburgh foimd that those
who were 6-2 or taller
received starting salaries 12
percent higher than those
under six feet. In universi
ties, full professors tend to be
taller than assistant profes
sors.
In a study published in
1980, social psychologists dis
covered that less than one-
half of 1 percent of American
women were married to a
man shorter than them
selves. A Polish study found
that taller men were more
likely to be fathers, so short
men are less likely to pass on
their genes to the next gener
ation, an injustice of
Darwinian proportions. In 80
percent of U.S. presidential
elections, the taller candidate
won (though 2000 was, just
like the balloting, a confound
ing squeaker: 6-1A1 Gore had
an inch on George W. Bush).
So it’s no surprise that even
though height loss is normal,
lots of people refuse to accept
it. Stan Marshall, 84, a
retired advertising executive
from Pittsburgh, has gone
from six feet tall to 5-91/2.
The change became notice
able to family members when
he was in his late sixties. He
said that when his doctor told
him at age 70 that he’d lost
height, he started to argue. “I
said, Tour measurements are
wrong.’ “ But some shrinking
people say that their dimin
ished stature seems like a
minor problem, compared
with other age-related health
problems.
A few people may even wel
come the change in height.
Christina Cowger, 45, a plant
pathologist in Raleigh, N.C.,
used to be 5-8 and has lost
about half an inch. She said,
“I used to be self-conscious,
because I felt I was too big,
too tail. I think I’ve overcome
that self-focused worry, but at
the same time I wouldn’t be
sorry if I lost an inch. And I
think I’m about halfway
there.”
Annoying but Normal
Despite the distress it
sometimes causes, doctors
assure us that some height
loss is normal.
Said Sam Wiesel, head of
the orthopedics department
at Georgetown University
School of Medicine, “It’s like
when you get into your six
ties and seventies and you
get wrinkles on your skin. It’s
a normal aging process. This
is the same thing, but it’s
happening in your spine.”
And in fact, our height
varies every day, whether
we’re old or young. Those
disks in our spine rehydrate
and get more pillowy when
we sleep, so we’re taller in the
morning. At the end of a long
day, we are likely to be a
quarter- to a half-inch short
er.
Arthur Weinstein, a
rheumatologist at
Washington Hospital Center,
emphasized that height loss
unaccompanied by pain may
not indicate any disease,
even if one has a stooped pos
ture. “It may be disk narrow
ing, and lack of elasticity is
normal. It’s a feature of
aging, it’s not disk disease.”
But not all height loss is
normal. If you experience
painful and sudden height
loss, you are most likely
encountering an acute com
pression fracture caused by
osteoporosis. In that case,
you should see a doctor right
away.
How much height loss can
be considered normal? One
criterion, according to
Borenstein, is used by
Medicare: A loss of more than
an inch over any length of
time is indicative of a medical
problem, with bone density
testing eligible for reimburse
ment.
More broadly, a large, long
term study in Baltimore
found that between the ages
of 30 and 70, men lost an
average of 11/4 inches and
women two inches.
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FDA: Antidepressants a
factor in child suicides
Continued from page 1B
warned of dire consequences if their use in children is banned.
Although only Prozac has been specifically approved for use
in children, doctors are legally allowed to prescribe the drugs
for any patient.
One company, Wyeth, has warned American doctors not to
prescribe its drug Effexor to children. Gary Cheslek of
Vicksburg, Miss., who said his son Justin hanged himself after
taking Paxil, noted that the data that prompted Wyeth’s warn
ing had been available for years. Many families questioned
why neither the company nor the FDA had acted earlier.
On a day of high drama at the Holiday Inn in Bethesda,
dozens of families accused the agency of turning a blind eye to
the problem. Some said their children had been helped.
“My children lead full lives because of SSRI medicines,” said
Suzanne Vogel-Scibilia, who said two of her children had been
under psychiatric care. Vogel-Scibilia, a member of the
National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, an advocacy group, said,
“I shudder to think of what would happen to them if these
medicines were not available.”
David Fassler, a psychiatrist who testified at the hearing on
behalf of the American Psychiatric Association, said in an
interview, “Hearings like this frighten parents and make it
less likely they will bring their kids in for treatment.”
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