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The present study is an effort to explore the effect of high altitude on the physical growth of Spitian children. The present cross sectional study has been conducted on Spitian boys, ranging in age from 5 to 20 years. Anthropometric data was collected on 636 subjects during 1996-1998 from various areas of Spiti valley by PPS. The altitudes of these areas range between 3500 -4200 metres above mean-sea-level. The adolescent spurt in case of Spitian boys occurs at 15-16 years of age in weight and 13-14 years in height whereas the peak adolescent gain in chest circumference is even later and takes place at 17-18 years. It can be concluded from the above results that the adolescent spurt is delayed in Spitian boys. The proportionally greater chest cage size has emerged as the most important morphological characteristic in various studies. This seems to be an adaptation to low partial pressure of oxygen. A very late adolescent spurt in chest circumference might be giving an edge to the high altitude populations to keep on adding to the final adult dimensions by way of extending the growth period.

Data on the age of menarche has been collected on 264 Indian sportswomen, and 108 girls forming the control group, all hailing from the Punjab, Haryana, chandigarh and Delhi. Outstanding athletes and players of hockey, basketball and volleyball were included. The combined mean age at menarche for sportswomen is 15.21 years and for the control sample is 14.05 years. The differences in the two series are statistically significant. The mean age at menarche in hockey, basketball, volleyball and athletes is found to be 15.15, 15.40, 15.05 and 15.27 years respectively. The differences in these groups, however, are not found to be statistically significant.

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The study aims at evaluating the growth performance of primary school children of Patiala (Punjab, India) belonging to lower and lower middle socio-economic groups, with special emphasis on the effects of social class and urbanization. Cross-sectional data on 1380 children (656 boys and 724 girls) ranging in age from 6 to 12 years were collected during 1974. Dimensions measured were height, weight, circumferences of chest and upper arm, triceps, subscapular and suprailiac skinfolds. Standard techniques (Weiner and Lourie 1969) were followed for taking these measurements. The boys are significantly taller and heavier than the girls, whereas the girls possess significantly more amounts of subcutaneous tissue, from 6 to 12 years. The Punjabi children are taller than the combined Indian sample. On average, the children of the present study are smaller in size and lighter in body weight than the British children and fall between the 3rd and 25th centiles of the British standards. Children belonging to lower and lower-middle socio-economic classes are significantly lighter in body weight and smaller in height than their coevals of higher groups. The urban boys are taller and heavier than their rural peers, however, the differences are not as marked and clear as those of socio-economic groups.