Physical growth of pre-pubertal Punjabi girls

Abstract

Cross-sectional data on 724 pre-pubertal Punjabi girls ranging in age from 6 to 12 years, were collected from the primary sections of various schools of Patiala city during 1974. Children belonging to the lower and lower-middle socio-economic groups were included in the present study. Nine anthropometric measurements including three skinfolds were taken on each subject. Statistical constants like mean, standard deviation and standard error of mean have been calculated. Growth standards of girls in terms of percentiles for these age groups have been constructed for some selected measurements. The resluts show that the velocity of weight increases in the successive ages up to 10–11 years. All other anthropometric measurements excluding skinfolds, show a general trend of decline in the rate of growth of body measurements up to 10–11 years. The girls ef this sample seem to pick up accelerated growth during the 11–12 year age interval to enter the adolescent growth spurt. The pattern of change of subcutaneous tissue provides two types of pictures-suprailiac and subscapular skinfolds show continuous increase during the period under study whereas the triceps skinfold decreases up to 9 years and again increases. The velocity curves of the skinfolds do not indicate any appreciable trend of increase or decrease. Linear regression equations were fitted to height, weight, log weight, and sitting height measurements. It is noticed that log weight measurements provide a better fit upon age than the weight measurements taken as such.