Case report
Biological Anthropology of Aging – Past, Present and Future
Gillian H. Ice
Abstract
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.
Keywords
elderly; gerontology; life cycle; aging
Hrčak ID:
28080
URI
Publication date:
16.6.2003.
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