Anthropometric Variations in the Frame-Size of Adolescent Male Nigerian School Children in Urban Lagos

Limited information is available about the skeletal frame-size of urban dwelling adolescent West African children. This study assessed variation in truncal skeletal breadths of adolescent male Nigerian children from two different socioeconomic backgrounds in urban Lagos. Anthropometric measurements of biacromial, bicristal, bitrochanteric and chest breadths were taken from 354 adolescent male school children aged 10-17 years selected from public and private schools in urban Lagos using a systematic random method according to protocols recommended by the International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry (ISAK). The socioeconomic status (SES) of the subjects was classified on the basis of attendance of either fee paying private or non fee-paying public schools. The data obtained was collated and analyzed for mean and standard deviation, whilst the variations between independent groups were analyzed using students t-test. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. The mean values of measurements are as follows; biacromial breadth=28.7±3.2-42.8±4.2; bicristal breadth=19.53±1.8-25.6±1.7; bitrochanteric breadth=21.9±1.9-28.9±2.1; chest breadth=16.9±0.7-25.1±2.3. Statistically significant differences were observed in the mean biacromial, bicristal, bitrochanteric and chest breadths between age-matched private school boys as compared to the public school boys. The findings indicate that the patterns of variations in skeletal truncal morphology among urban adolescents may reflect variation in lifestyle patterns existing among this population, suggesting an anthropometric uniqueness of the adolescent males in urban Lagos and thus underlining the need for an own morphologic norm for this population. Wider based cross-sectional studies would be beneficial at this stage.

Key Words: Truncal Skeletal breadths, Variation, Males, Adolescent, Urban Lagos