Some Anthropometric and Sociodemographic Parameters of School Age Respondents (10-20

Background : Anthropometric characteristics vary from one ethnic group to another. The study was carried out to assess the anthropometric and sociodemographic characteristics of School-aged children and adolescents (10-20 years of age) in Garun Mallam Local Government Area, Kano State. Methodology: Four hundred subjects made up of 299 males and 101 females were recruited for this research. The anthropometric variables measured were height, weight, body mass index, head and neck circumferences, hand length, hand breadth, foot length, and foot breadth as well as some sociodemographic characteristics. All measurements were taken according to standard protocols. One-way Analysis of variance was used for the comparison of the parametric data among the four groups of independent categories and the Kruskal Wallis test was used for non-parametric data among two groups of independent categories. Pearson correlation was used to test for the correlation of all the measured anthropometry parameters. Data were analyzed using SPSS Version 17 and P<0.05. Results: Sexual dimorphism in the anthropometric variables such as height, weight, hand anthropometry, and foot anthropometry. There was no significant difference observed between the Igbos and Yoruba in both sexes (p>0.05). Hausas were relatively shorter in both sexes and all the measured anthropometry parameters had a strong positive correlation with each other. Conclusion: The study has documented some of the anthropometric parameters of School children and sociodemographic characteristics of the parents of children and adolescents of Garun Mallam Local Government of Kano State which can serve as baseline data.


Introduction
Anthropometric data for children reflect general health status, dietary adequacy, growth, and development 1 over time.Anthropometry is a necessary tool in developing standardized apparel sizing and a key component of nutritional status assessment in children as well as reflecting the general health status, dietary 2006, whereas in adolescents, it was lower (33.2%).The term "Sociodemographic" refers to a group defined by its sociological and demographic 6 characteristics.Sociodemographic groups are used for analyses in the social sciences as well as for 6 marketing and medical studies.Demographic characteristics can refer to age, sex, place of residence, religion, educational level, and marital 6 status.Sociological characteristics are more objective traits, such as membership in organizations, household status, interests, values, This present study was carried out to assess the relationship between anthropometric parameters and socio-demographic characteristics of School age respondents (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)

Sampling:
The subjects were obtained through random selection and students from different classes were used as a sample of the research.400 samples were obtained out of which 299 were males and 101 were female subjects, adopting the sample size determination of Usman, U. [10].The consent of the school authority and the subjects was obtained before the commencement of the research work.

Inclusion criteria include:
i.Only students of Government Secondary School, Garun Mallam ii.Only students between 10-20 years of age iii.Students with no physical deformities Anthropometry Parameters: Body weight and height was measured simultaneously to the nearest 0.1kg and nearest cm respectively according to standard protocols of the WHO of 1995.
Neck circumference was measured at the seventh cervical margin below the laryngeal prominence (Adam's apple) and the head circumference was measured at the level of the maximum distance between the glabella and the back of the head in the midsagittal plane with a measuring tape to the nearest cm.The hand length was measured as a straight distance between the distal crease of the wrist joint and the most anterior projecting point (of the middle finger), and hand breadth was measured as a straight distance from the most laterally placed nd point on the hand of the 2 metacarpal to the most th medially placed point located on the hand of the 5 metacarpal, foot length was also measured as a direct distance from the most prominent point of the back of the heel to the tip of hallux or the tip of the longest toe and foot breadth was measured at the level of the metatarsophalangeal joint using digital vernier caliper to the nearest cm.Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated from the Weight in kilogram and height in meters as BMI=Weight (kg)/Height 2 (m) for each subject.Sociodemographic Characteristics: Data on the sociodemographic pattern was obtained using an administered questionnaire that was distributed and filled by the students.The information contained in the questionnaire included parents' ethnic group, educational level of the parents as well as their occupational status of the parents.The information from the students included, age in years, date of birth, sex, and some measurements were done on the students which included, weight, height, head and neck circumferences, hand and foot length, and hand and foot breadth.Data analysis: Anthropometry data obtained were expressed as Mean ± S.D and sociodemographic characteristics were categorized and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 17. Shapiro-Wilk's test for normality was conducted One-way Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for the comparison of parametric data among the four groups of independent categories and the Kruskal Wallis test was used for nonparametric data among two groups of independent categories.Pearson correlation was used to test for the correlation of all the measured anthropometry parameters.Figure 3 showed that the majority of the fathers' occupation is farming while the majority of the mothers' occupation is business.

et al Tanko Murdakai
The neck circumference of the three ethnic groups was statistically significant while the differences in the other variables were not.
The result in table 6 above showed the existence of differences in the anthropometric variables between the three ethnic groups which are not statistically significant at p>0.05 Right The differences in the anthropometric variables between the three ethnic groups were not statistically significant at p>0.05

Discussion
Body mass index was categorized as normal, underweight, overweight, and obese using the world 8 health organization cut-off classification.The study indicated the difference in body mass index of males and females not to be statistically significant, which 9 is not per the work of Ajayi et al. in which they found that males and females had a significant difference in BMI in which the male had higher values.
Based on the present study, there was sexual dimorphism in anthropometric variables such as weight, height, BMI, head and neck circumferences, hand length, hand breadth, foot length, and foot breadth.This is in agreement with the work of 10 Usman.The study also indicated that male subjects had higher hand anthropometric variables than 11 females which is in line with the work of Yunis.Age shows a correlation with height.A healthy child should grow normally, however some children grow taller than their age and this is in agreement with the 12 work of Judith and Lori.This could be genetic or eating behavior.The results also show that subjects whose parents have a higher level of education have higher anthropometric variables compared to those whose parents have a low level of education.This indicates that subjects whose fathers have a higher level of education have a better nutritional status, which may be likely due to their high income and 13 provision of family needs as seen in tables 8 and 9.In comparison between the three ethnic groups concerning stature, hand and foot dimensions, there is no significant difference observed between the Igbos and Yorubas in both sexes, which agreed to the 9 report of Ajayi et al. in which they discovered that there was no statistical difference in the BMI of the Yoruba and Igbo ethnic groups.However, the result of this study indicated that the Hausa ethnic group was observed to be relatively shorter in both sexes.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the study has documented some anthropometric parameters of school children and sociodemographic characteristics of the parents of children as well as the adolescents of Garun Mallam Local Government of Kano State, Nigeria which can be used as baseline data.The result of this study can also be very useful to anatomists and forensic anthropologists.

Figure 1 :
Figure 1: Frequency Distribution of Sex

Figure 2 :
Figure 2: Frequency Distribution of Parents level of education.

Figure 3 :
Figure 3: Frequency Distribution of Parental Occupation.

Table 10 : 1 0
Relationship between Age and Some Anthropometric Parameters of the Study Population Mass Index, HC = Head Circumference, NC = Neck Circumference, RHL = Right Hand Length, RHB = Right Hand Breadth, LHL = Left Hand Length, LHB = Left Hand Breadth, RFL = Right Foot Length, RFB = Right Foot Breadth, LFL = Left Foot Length, LFB = Left Foot Breadth.The anthropometric variables were strongly correlated to one another.

14 This
is contrary to the findings of Numan et al. which showed that the Yoruba ethnic group are significantly shorter and has significantly shorter hands than the Hausas and Igbos.
years in Garun Mallam Local Government Area, Kano State.

Table 3 :
Frequency distribution of Ethnicity.

Table 4 :
ANOVA table of age, height, weight, head circumference and neck circumference in male subjects express as Mean ± SD.

Table 5 :
ANOVA table of Right-Hand Length, Right-hand breadth, left-hand length, left-hand breadth, Right foot length, Right foot breadth, left foot length, and Left foot breadth in male subjects expressed as Mean ± SD

Table 6 :
ANOVA table of age, height, weight, head circumference and neck circumference in female subjects express as Mean ± SD.

Table 7 :
ANOVA table of Right-Hand Length, Right-hand breadth, left-hand length, left-hand breadth, Right foot length, Right foot breadth, left foot length and Left foot breadth in female subjects expressed as Mean ± SD.

Table 8 :
Kruskal -Wallis Test of Father's Level of education with BMI and Neck circumference

Table 9 :
Kruskal -Wallis Test of Mother's Level of education with BMI and Neck Circumference