Anthropometric growth in school children aged 9-15 years

Anthropometric measurements are presented for Dar es Salaam school children aged between 9-15 years. Girls are heavier than boys (P less than 0.001); and attain almost a plateau in standing height by 15 years age. In girls; sitting to standing height percent increase with age by about 0.2 percent years as compared to a 0.67 percent year decline in boys suggesting that; the increase in standing height with age in girls results from more trunk than leg height growth as compared to more leg than trunk height growth in boys. Boys have wider chest (P less than 0.001) than girls and become taller than girls after 14 years of age. Despite having similar onset of accelerated and trends of anthropometric growth about 60 percent of the subjects in this study have smaller standing height and weight than values reported in Caucasians of comparable age. It is recommended that further work is required to include children between 0-8 years of age also from rural areas so that comprehensive reference values could be constructed

Ventilatory functions in healthy adult male textile employees

Spirometric measurements were performed in 718 health; asymptomatic and life long nonsmoking male Tanzanians aged between 20-60 years using a dry-wedge spirometer (Vitalograph). The study was undertaken to determine normal values for forced vital capacity (FVC); one second forced expired volume (FEV1); FEV1 as percent of FVC (FEV1 percent FVC); and construct prediction equations from these data in a large population of health adult male textile employees in Dar es Salaam. Measurement were performed in accordance with European Community for Coal and steel (ECCS) recommendations. Regression analyses were used to derive prediction equation for FVC; FEV1; and FEV1 percent FVC in this population. FVC remained relatively constant through 30 years before decreasing in subjects greater than 30 years of age. [abstract terminated]