Limb lengths of primary school children in a city from western region of Turkey

Anthropometry has been used for the assessment of growth at different ages. Among the anthropometric measurements, weight, height, arm circumference, and lower and upper limb lengths are of the most important criteria showing the development of children in school age. The aim of the present study was to measure the lengths of upper (arm, forearm, hand) and lower (thigh, leg, foot) limbs of children studying in primary schools of Aydin, a city in the western region of Turkey, and to assess the differences according to the gender (female, male) and living areas (urban, rural). In different age groups, many differences were observed when compared for gender and area. Differences were also seen when compared with the other studies done in different part of Turkey. The data was the first one for the region and it might be useful for further regional studies or for national comparisons. More studies designed with bigger sample sizes that cover many cities belonging to the same region of the country are needed. In addition to cross-sectional studies, longitudinal studies may give more useful knowledge for understanding the growth of children.