Estimation of chronological age from different body segments in boys and girls aged 4-19 years, using anthropometric and photogrammetric techniques.

Data obtained from measuring different body segments (stature, sitting height, upper limb, upper arm, forearm, leg, hand and foot length), were used to construct equations for estimating the chronological age of children with unknown date of birth. About 18,510 sets of measurements were taken on boys and 11,568 sets on girls. All were healthy British children aged 4-19 years and participating in three longitudinal studies at the Department of Growth and Development, Institute of Child Health, University of London. Both anthropometric and photogrammetric techniques of measurement were used to construct 35 anthropometric and 49 photogrammetric equations using the multiple linear regression model. These equations give the most likely estimated value for age together with its error. The accuracy of the equations and its applicability both on live children and on postmortem material is discussed.

Age at menarche of schoolgirls in Khartoum.

Data on age at menarche have been collected among 1372 Sudanese girls attending state schools within the capital, Khartoum, and representing three different socioeconomic groups. The mean ages, estimated by probits, were 13.35 +/- 0.14 for the well-off girls; 13.85 +/- 0.15 for the middle class and 14.06 +/- 0.18 years for the poor girls. The results were compared with data reported from other African and other Arabic-speaking countries. Well-off Sudanese girls in Khartoum have one of the earliest recorded means of all African populations studied. It seems likely that with improvement of health care and family planning, Sudanese girls would be at least as early-maturing as girls in Northern and Central Europe.

PIP: A study of the age at menarche in 3 different social classes in Khartoum, Sudan was conducted during the academic year 1980. The girls were all Sudanese and attended state schools within the capital, Khartoum. They ranged in age from 8-18 years. The population of Khartoum is Arabic speaking and predominantly Arab in origin, but there has been some admixture with other ethnic groups in Sudan. The girls and adolescents represented 3 different income groups classified arbitrarily according to the locality of the schools as high, moderate, and low income. Only those who are more privileged attend school in Sudan. The data were collected using the status quo method. The "well off" girls in Group A menstruated at age 13.35 +or- 0.15, earlier by 0.5 years than middle class girls in Group B. The difference was statistically significant. The girls in Group C, the low income group, had a mean menarcheal age which was not significantly different from the middle income Group B. This may be due to the fact that poorer classes tend to spend most of their income on food consumption and thus the differences in the dietary pattern between B and C was not very great. Between Groups A and C there was a significant difference of 0.71 of a year. The difference was statistically significant. The mean family size was found to differ, with the poorest and the unemployed having the highest average number in the family. The "well off" girls in Khartoum have one of the earliest recorded ages of menarche in Africa. When poor girls in Khartoum with a mean of 14.06 were compared with poor girls in rural Egypt with a mean of 13.9, the difference was insignificant. It seems likely that in good environmental conditions and with family planning, Sudanese girls, or at least those in the Khartoum area, may mature as early as, or earlier than, girls of northern and Central Europe.

Age at menarche of schoolgirls in Egypt.

The mean ages at menarche of 1365 Egyptian girls attending eight different schools in the Cairo region and representing three strikingly different socio-economic sectors were estimated by probit analysis as 12.59 +/- 0.29 for the well-off girls in Cairo; 13.09 +/- 0.17 for the middle-class girls in Cairo; 13.89 +/- 0.18 for rural agricultural areas. The results were compared with those for some European series and with other data from Arabic-speaking countries in the Middle East. Egyptian well-off girls in Cairo have one of the earliest recorded means of all populations studied. In contrast, those from rural agricultural areas are delayed probably because of malnutrition and endemic diseases such as bilharzia, aggravated by the tendendcy for poor uneducated parents in agricultural societies to have large families.