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Heights and Weights of Schoolchildren in St Vincent

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

M. T. Ashcroft
Affiliation:
MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of the West Indies, Kingston 7, Jamaica, and Paediatric Division, Kingstown General Hospital, St Vincent, West Indies
A. C. K. Antrobus
Affiliation:
MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of the West Indies, Kingston 7, Jamaica, and Paediatric Division, Kingstown General Hospital, St Vincent, West Indies

Summary

Heights and weights were measured of 5600 children aged 5 to 14 years, of predominantly African origin, attending primary schools situated in rural areas of St Vincent. The mean size of these children was intermediate between that of London children recorded in 1905 to 1912 and in 1959 and not greatly different from that found in recent years in most other parts of the West Indies. These St Vincent children were larger than those measured in a small survey 20 years ago. For a given height, they were lighter than London children in 1959 and obesity was much less common. Signs of serious malnutrition were rare. A standard of mean heights and weights of West Indian children from lower socio-economic classes and of predominantly African origin has been calculated from the results of recent surveys in five different countries.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1970

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