[Orthopaedic findings of the foot as related to age and body weight among women (author's transl)].

In a cross-sectional evaluation of 103 women belonging to the material of the Leipzig Longitudinal Study of the GDR Gerontology Project, foot trouble and objective foot changes were studied in relation to body weight and age. The subjects were divided into four age classes and two weight groups. The following objective foot parameters were obtained from the podogram: the angle of the big toe, the isthmus value, and the length-breadth index. Further data such as the total foot angle, the height of the plantar arch and the instep height were derived from the lateral radiograph of the foot under load. In 36.89 per cent of the subjects foot trouble was established. Two frequency peaks (15.8 years and 51.5 years) were determined for the age at which the first symptoms manifested themselves. The investigations showed a growing influence of physiological changes due to ageing on foot trouble. The dependence of foot trouble on body weight is evidenced by the fact that overweight women are more prone to develop foot trouble than women with standard weight. The angle of the big toe, in particular, is clearly weight-related, i.e. the risk to develop hallux valgus is greater in overweight women over 55 years of age than it is in standard-weight females. This finding is corroborated by the fact that, on an average, the group of overweight subjects has lower length-breadth-index values, which is indicative of a broadening of the forefoot in the process of splay-foot development.