Body size and form of children of predominantly black ancestry living in West and Central Africa, North and South America, and the West Indies

Abstract

Stature, sitting height, hip width, arm and calf circumferences and body weight were measured in black children of Richland County, South Carolina [USA]. Lower limb height and 3 indices of body shape were obtained from the measurements. Sample size exceeded 200 for each of 5 age-sex groups representing girls and boys aged 6 yr, girls and boys aged 9 yr, and boys aged 11 yr. Comparisons are made with findings from previous research on children of predominantly black ancestry living in west and central Africa, the West Indies, and North, Central and South America. Black children of Richland County measured during 1974-77 are taller than black children studied since 1960 in Angola, Chad, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda, Anguilla, Barbados, Cuba, Guyana, Jamaica, Nevis, St. Kitts, St. Vincent and Surinam. Children of well-to-do black families in Accra and Ibadan are no taller or heavier than black children of Richland County taken without regard to socio-economic status. In hip width, averages for Richland County black children are larger than those for children of the Hutu and Yoruba tribes; in arm girth they are larger than children of the Hutu and Tutsi tribes. Age changes and group differences are reported for hip width relative to lower limb height, and lower limb height relative to sitting height. During childhood, the hip/lower limb index decreases, and the lower limb/sitting height index increases. Almost identical hip/lower limb indices characterize black populations in Africa, Cuba and the USA.