The small child: anthropometric and physical performance characteristics of short-for-age children growing in good and in poor socio-economic conditions

Abstract

Objective: To ascertain whether individuals whose short stature is caused by poor living conditions differ in their other biological characteristics from those individuals who grow short, supposedly due to their genetic endowment, under favourable environmental conditions. Design: From the growth survey of nearly 4000 children of the`Cape Coloured' community aged 6±18 y half of whom lived in the middle-class suburbs of Cape Town [high socio-economic status (SES)], the other half who lived in poor rural settlements (low SES), boys and girls of similarly short stature were selected. Average body height by sex and age in each selected sample was close to the 5th percentile of height distribution among all high SES individuals surveyed. Setting: Cape Town and neighbouring rural settlements in South Africa. Subjects: Four thousand children of the Cape Coloured community aged 6±18 y. Among these were 109 high SES boys, 123 high SES girls, 302 low SES boys and 344 low SES girls selected for short stature study. Interventions: Anthropometric measurements in public schools with appropriate permissions. Results: Both short stature males and females from the low SES group tended to be signi®cantly (P`0.05) different from the high SES group of comparable stature in having lower body weights, shorter limbs, longer trunks, narrower shoulders, hips and chests, thinner skinfolds, smaller arm circumferences, and were very notably weaker and had poorer neuromuscular reaction times. Biepicondylar widths and pulse rates were little different between groups. Conclusions: Genetically short children do differ in various anthropometric and functional traits from those who are small from environmental causes. Sponsorship: MRC (South Africa), Foundation for Research Development and the Universities of Cape Town and the Witwatersrand.

Physical fitness of normal, stunted and overweight children 6–13 years in Oaxaca, Mexico

“…The consequences of growth stunting and owt/ob for indicators of physical fitness in children and youth have been considered, respectively, in developing (Benefice, 1998;Fellmann et al, 1998;Henneberg et al, 1998;Prista, 1998;Monyeki et al, 2005) and developed (Beunen et al, 1983;Malina et al, 1995;Bovet et al, 2007;Malina, 2007, 2010) countries. This study is perhaps one of the first to compare the physical fitness of stunted, normal and owt/ob children living under marginal conditions in Mexico.…”

Population differences in the postcrania of modern South Africans and the implications for ancestry estimation

“…For example, long bone lengths and epiphyseal breadths have been correlated to climate, specifically minimum average temperatures [27]. Similarly, stature is frequently correlated with socioeconomic status (SES), where lower SES typically results in shorter stature [28,29]. Yet the genetic contribution to postcranial variation is often overlooked.…”

Proporcionalidade corporal na avaliação antropométrica de adolescentes pós-menarca

“…É uma medida relativa do comprimento do tronco ou das pernas e varia entre indivíduos e grupos 3 . Henneberg et al 4 , em estudo longitudinal com indivíduos de baixa estatura entre 6 e 18 anos de idade, provenientes de níveis socioeconômicos alto e baixo, analisaram as diferenças em relação às dimensões do tronco e membros. Constataram que, apesar de os dois grupos possuírem estaturas idênticas, suas proporções corpóreas diferiam.…”

“…Valores maiores de IC devem-se à maior proporção tronco-cefálica, ou seja, troncos maiores em relação às pernas, ou pernas mais curtas, condição possivelmente resultante de comprometimentos nutricionais ao longo da vida 4,5 .…”

“…Analogamente, pode-se dizer que as adolescentes do GC seriam mais baixas por uma possível herança genética e, portanto, sem comprometimento na proporcionalidade corporal 4 . O comprimento de pernas tem sido considerado um indicador mais sensível da exposição dos indivíduos a circunstâncias socioeconômicas, dietéticas e ambientais desfavoráveis no período da infância 27,28 .…”