The relationship between height and arm span, mid-upper arm and waist circumferences and the sum of four skinfolds in healthy Polokwane private school children, South Africa

Abstract

Human stature is an important issue in the measurement of body growth due to bone development, and dietary conditions. This study  researched the associations between height, arm span (AS), the sum of the four skinfolds (S4SK), mid-upper arm, and waist girth (WG)  among students at three private schools in Polokwane city, South Africa. A total of 1665 school children (ages 5 to 15 years; 846 boys and  819 girls), were included in this study. The children’s anthropometric measurements were taken according to the guidelines of the  International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry's (ISAK). Pearson correlation coefficients and linear regression models  were employed to evaluate the associations between the anthropometric variables. Boys younger than 6 years had a substantially  (p<0.001) higher correlation coefficient for arm span (r=0.89) than girls (r=0.88). However, girls had a significantly (p<0.001) higher arm girth (0.50) than boys (0.43) at ages 7−10 years. The coefficients of determination for AS were similar at 0.72 (95% CI 0.67−0.77), and 0.75  (95%CI 0.71−0.80) for schoolboys and girls aged 11−15 years, respectively. Height and AS were shown to be substantially correlated in the Polokwane private school children. Despite the modest association between WG and mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC), WG was not  a good predictor of height in both genders.