Are International Anthropometric Standards Appropriate for Developing Countries?

To test the validity of using international standards as references for the assessment of nutritional status, investigations have been carried out on pre-school aged children selected from three distinct ecological environments in Papua New Guinea. Field work included anthropometric measurements (we...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of tropical pediatrics (1980) 1991-02, Vol.37 (1), p.37-44
Main Authors: Kow, Felicia, Geissler, Catherine, Balasubramaniam, Eliathamby
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anthropology. Demography
Anthropometry
Biological and medical sciences
Child, Preschool
Developing Countries
Health Status Indicators
Human physiology applied to population studies and life conditions. Human ecophysiology
Humans
International System of Units
Medical sciences
New Guinea
Nutritional Status
Tropical medicine
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Summary:To test the validity of using international standards as references for the assessment of nutritional status, investigations have been carried out on pre-school aged children selected from three distinct ecological environments in Papua New Guinea. Field work included anthropometric measurements (weight, height, triceps skin-fold, mid-upper-arm circumference, mid-upper-arm muscle circumference), together with pathological and clinical assessments (intestinal helminths, diarrhoea, splenomegaly, PEM signs). The findings indicate that any deviation below standard weight, height, and arm circumference is associated with greater prevalence of disease. International standards are therefore appropriate for preschool aged children in Papua New Guinea and by inference in other developing countries.
ISSN:0142-6338
1465-3664
DOI:10.1093/tropej/37.1.37