The Dynamics of Body Circumferences and Indices of Trunk Stoutness in Preschool Children

The Dynamics of Body Circumferences and Indices of Trunk Stoutness in Preschool Children

Eglė Marija Jakimavičienė, Janina Tutkuvienė

Summary

The body circumferences are closely re­lated to body size and weight, and indi­cate the peculiarities of the subcutane­ous layer, the muscle mass and the skeletal robustness for the individuals of various ages. Waist circumference is a good marker for the abdominal fat and could be applied for the evaluation of ad ipose tis sue cen trali sation in adults. However, the dynamics of body circumierences at this age period had not been investigated widely. Recently few couniries provided the references for the head and waist circumferences (waist circumference of kindergartners had not been investigated in Lithuanian).

The aim of present study was to anaiyse age dynamics and gender dif­ferences of various circumferences and some body shape indices (waist to hip ratio and conicity index) in 3-7 years old preschool Lithuanian children.

The study was carried out in Vilnius kindergartens in 2003-2006. In total 1185 healthy children (582 boys, 603 girls) were investigated according to the standard anthropometrical methods.

The percentiles (according to the age and sex) of body circumferences (head, chest, waist, hip, rel axed arm, forearm, wrist, maximal thigh, maxi­mal and minimal calf) of Lithuanian preschool children were presented for the first time. We recommend the fol­lowing cut-offs for the evaluation of body size and proportionality of chil­dren of this age group: the 3^h and the 97^th percentiles - for head, chest, hip and extremities circumferences; the 90^th percentile - for waist ciriumieri ence. We do not recommend waist to hip rat io and conicity index (that are used for the body shape evaluation in older adolescents) for the evaluation of adipose tissue centralisation in pre­school childhood. The studies to reveal the relationships between body circum­ferences and general health status, as well as the risk factors for various dis­eases should be conducted with pur­pose to specify the cut-offs for the body circumferences in the case of different pathologies.

Keywords: preschool children, head circumferences, body circumferences, waist to hip ratio, conicity index.