Are all dilemmas in gerontology being swept under the carpet of intra-individual variability?
It is considered that there are great differences among elderly individuals, because the intra-individual variability is great. The differences among specific individuals grow with their age, so when adults reach a very old age, it seems that there are great differences among them--some are able to do some work, the others are not so able-bodied, whereas among high school students there is usually little difference in their physical ability. The research that supports the above mentioned points, however, does not exist and this opinion came about as a result of deduction. The goal of this study is to examine the fluctuations in the elderly and prove that the genetic difference plays a bigger role than the variability, as the intra-individual (or the between-person) variability is present everywhere, not only in very old people.
Davidovic
Mladen
M
Geriatric Clinic KBC Zvezdara, 1 Rifata Burdzevica 31, 11050 Beograd, Serbia and Montenegro. davidovi@eunet.yu
Milosevic
Dragoslav P
DP
D000368:Aged; D005853:Geriatrics; D006801:Humans