Secular changes in limb lengths and proportions from 1952 to 2011 in children, adolescents, and young adults from Kolkata (India)

Abstract

Objectives The aim of the study was to investigate the intergenerational changes of upper and lower limb lengths as well as the values of the upper, lower limb, and intermembral indicators of children, adolescents, and young adults from Kolkata (India) between 1952 to 1966 and 2005 to 2011. Methods The analysis was based on the results of anthropometric measurements of 7488 Bengali children, adolescents, and young adults. They were included in three cross‐sectional surveys, carried out in 1955 to 1966, 1982 to 1983 (only males), and 2005 to 2011. The upper and lower limb lengths were obtained and the upper and lower limb indicators, as well as an intermembral index, were calculated. The differences between the cohorts were assessed using two‐way ANOVA. Results Positive, statistically significant, secular trends regarding the length of the lower and upper limbs as well as the value of the lower limb index were observed. Negative intergenerational changes were noted for the values of the upper limb indicator and intermembral index, suggesting that the secular increase of the length of the upper limbs was less pronounced than those of the body height and lower limbs length. Conclusions The secular increase regarding the lower limbs length was associated with the socioeconomic progress of the country, but the length of the upper limbs was less sensitive for those factors. It is also important to mention that there is still very little information on those characteristics in general, which further proves the need for similar studies.

Long-Term Trends in Changes in Physical and Motor Development Observed among Physiotherapy Students from Bydgoszcz in 2011–2020

“…The basic observations are confirmed by the assessment of the temporal changes in most of the studied characteristics, which also allows us to verify the hypotheses. The lack of dependence of changes in body height in the studied adolescents over time indicates the disappearance of the secular trend of this feature, which still occurs in the general population of adolescents [ 15 , 16 , 29 , 30 ]. Therefore, in the light of the increase in body weight and hip circumference of men over time, as well as the size of the BMI and WHR index, as well as the increase in both circumferences among women, which also influenced the temporal changes in WHR, we consider the observed relationships to be unfavorable.…”

The effect of different socio-economic and working conditions on body size and proportions: A case study on adults from Samsun, Turkey

“…According to Jantz et al (2016), the differences observed in height usually stem from the bones of the limbs. Differences observed in the limbs indicated that the lower limbs of the body exhibited more allometric structure than the upper limbs, and the upper limbs were more isometric with height Jantz 1995, 1999;Tacar et al, 1999;Kryst et al, 2019). Some researchers have even suggested that external factors affected the distal limbs more (radius-ulna and tibia-fibula), especially the tibia length, among all body limbs (Holliday and Ruff, 2001;Auerbach and Sylvester, 2011;Koziel et al, 2016).…”

“…A change in the socio-economic conditions of a population significantly affects body proportions and height (Kryst et al, 2019). In addition, alterations can be observed in the relations of dimensions such as the forearm, leg, thigh length, and body height to each other (Dempster et al, 1964).…”

“…Many studies have stated that the lower part of the body (total lower leg length) has more significant plasticity during growth than the upper part (sitting height) (Johnston, 1998;Dangour et al, 2002;Živičnjak et al, 2003;Webb et al, 2008;Pomeroy et al, 2012). Besides the trunk-leg parts, distal limbs segments seem to show more variability than proximal limbs (Holliday and Ruff, 2001;Auerbach and Sylvester, 2011;Koziel et al, 2016;Koziel et al, 2019;Kryst et al, 2019).…”

Long-term changes in physical fitness components determining motor performance of young people studying physiotherapy in 2001-2020

“…It is commonly believed that it is "worse" because physical activity is successively squeezed out by civilization achievements which often replace it. There is also an opinion about the changes in its structure as a result of young generations adapting to the requirements of the surrounding reality [5][6][7][8][9] . People studying physiotherapy may also be subject to these processes, especially due to socio-economic changes and the dynamic development of the profession.…”