Body height and mass of pre-school and younger school children in the city of Novi Sad

Verica, Božić-Krstić, Rada, Rakić, Tatjana, Pavlica

Glasnik Antropološkog društva Jugoslavije

38

91

100

0351-1480

http://scindeks.ceon.rs/article.aspx?query=ISSID%26and%263558&page=0&sor...

2003-2021/11/05/09:17:32

Following the instructions of JBP (Weiner Louriel969) an anthropometrical investigation was conducted in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002. The investigation was carried out in two primary' schools and five pre-school institutions, all of them situated in the same area of the city of Novi Sad. The subjects were 1297 boys and 1215 girls from 3 to 11 years of age. The data were analyzed according to the age and gender, and included only those children born in Novi Sad whose parents were not immigrants. The children's age is represented in decimals calculated according to the date of birth and the date of the investigation. The results were compared to those obtained in an investigation performed by the same methodology and in the same city area in 1971, 1981 and 1991. The aim of this investigation was to establish the possible age and time variability of the body height and mass as a result of the changes in living conditions. An increase in these two characteristics was recorded in the period from 1971 to 1991. The average increase, i. e. acceleration for all of the subjects was highest between 1971 and 1981 and referred to the height (1. 84 cm) and body mass (1. 46 kg) of the boys and the body mass of the girls (1. 84 kg), while between 1981 and 1991 the highest acceleration was recorded in the girls' height (1. 22 cm). Compared to the results obtained in 1991, the height and body mass of the present generation of boys are smaller, with the presence of a decrease, i. e. retardation (-0.64 cm; -0.88 kg). As for the girls, no significant variability has been recorded (0. 05cm; 0.27 kg). The analysis of the children's growth and development has pointed to worsening living conditions that mostly affected younger schoolboys and pre-school children. The invariability of the period in which the body height and mass of both boys and girls were equal, together with the retardation in the body height and mass of the boys, show that girls are more ecostable. The absence of acceleration in the last ten years as well as the presence of greater number of growth peaks in today generation of children points to bad influence of external factors upon their growth. Further investigations should determine if these factors have influence upon the process of maturing.