All issues > Volume 19(1); 1976

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1976;19(1):31-39. Published online January 31, 1976.

Statistical studies on the arm circumference, the triceps skin fold thickness, the cross sectional fat area and the muscle area in Korean rural children from birth to 6 years

Jeong Kee Seo¹

¹Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Seoul National University

Abstract

Measurements obtained from one community is not always applicable to others, because of differences in socioeconomic, genetic or cultural background. Since standards for reference in rural area are not available at present in our country, the midarm circumference and the triceps skinf old which are two major anthropometric measurements for assessing the nutritional status of children were measured. In proteimenergy malnutrition, the body reserves of protein (muscle) and energy (fat) are mainly affected rather than skeletal dimension. Though the arm circumference reflects muscle development or wasting and the triceps skin fold gives an indication of calorie reserve, the cross sectional fat and muscle areas are more logical to. assess energy and protein nutrition than are the fat fold and arm circumference. Measuring the left mid arm circumference and triceps sknfold in 1080 healthy Korean preschool children in rural area from birth to 6 (Table 1), we obtained the cross-sectional fat and muscle area by using Gurney and Jelliffe’s Nomogram. (Table 2). The fat area obtained from the Normogram changes little between the ages of 1 and 6 years. Thus our data confirms that the fat area can be used as an age independent assessment of energy reserves as reported in the literature. The measurement of mid arm circumference and triceps skin fold thickness of Korean Children in rural area were compared with those reported in other countries.

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