Howard V. Meredith

Change in The Stature and Body Weight of North American Boys During the Last 80 Years

Publisher Summary The North American literature on secular change in body size is a conglomerate of products of facts and byproducts of conjectures. Products of facts have helped elucidate the direction and magnitude of somatic change in recent generations. Byproducts of conjectures have suggested varied determinants and implications of the changes discovered. This chapter synthesizes a major segment of current knowledge regarding the direction and magnitude of secular change with respect to human stature and body weight during the first twenty years of postnatal life. The knowledge is delimited to the continent of North America and to the human organisms of one sex (males). The predominant objective is limited to substantive synthesis.

Statistics on eruption of the permanent dentition from serial data for North American white children.

Abstract No Abstract Available. * From the Institute of Child Behavior and Development, University of Iowa, and supported in part by a research grant, D-217, from the National Institute for Dental Research, National Institutes of Health.

Vertical change in osseous and odontic portions of human face height between the ages of 5 and 15 years

Abstract Four skeletal subdivisions of human anterior face height have been investigated during a decade of childhood and adolescence: (1) nasal height, (2) maxillary subnasal height, (3) dental height, and (4) mandibular height. The subjects, twenty white boys and twenty white girls, were judged to have acceptable occlusion of the dental arches at all ages from 5 to 15 years. Serial norma lateralis roentgenograms of each subject constituted the source materials. Measurements were made at right angles to the Frankfort horizontal, between levels drawn parallel with the Frankfort horizontal through nasion, the tip of the anterior nasal spine, the upper alveolo-incisor junction, the lower alveolo-incisor junction, and menton. Analyses of the data from this four-segment partitioning of anterior face height yield findings on (1) the size of each osseous and dental segment at biennial ages from 5 years to 15 years, (2) the contribution of each segment to total face height at different ages between 5 years and 15 years, (3) the absolute and proportionate change in size of each segment during the decade between the ages of 5 years and 15 years, (4) relationships among the four facial height segments at selected ages, (5) associations with respect to the size of a given segment at two ages a decade apart, (6) associations with respect to change in the size of a given segment during two quadrenniums of childhood and youth, and (7) illustrative size and change combinations of the four segments in individual boys and girls. Methods used previously in studying components of anterior face height have been reviewed, and the results of prior and present research have been compared.

Relation of the nasal and subnasal components of facial height in childhood

The relation between two components of facial height is investigated over the childhood period from the age of 4 years to the age of 12 years. Longitudinal data are described and analyzed for nasal heightsubnasal height × 100. Age trends and individual differences of fifty-five children who had not received orthodontic treatment and seven children who had been subjected to “bite-opening” therapy are presented and discussed. Age trend findings for the childhood years are that (1) on the average, the nasal component of facial height increases in relation to the subnasal component and (2) for individuals, nasal height in percentage of subnasal height may remain practically constant from age to age, or it may increase as much as 15 percentage points. Individual differences in nasal height relative to subnasal height are distributed from a minimum of 65.0 per cent (at the age of 4 years) to a maximum of 91.6 per cent (at the age of 11 years). In the small group of children treated orthodontically, it is found that after “bite-opening” procedures are initiated, they produce a temporary increase in subnasal height and consequently a temporary decrease in the percentage relation of nasal height to subnasal height.

Widths of the dental arches at the permanent first molars in children 9 years of age

Abstract This article reports a study of dental arch width in the region of the permanent first molars on children 9 years of age. Its opening sections (1) survey the different methods of determining arch width that have been employed, and (2) review previous findings on 9-year-old white children contained in the North American research literature. Succeeding sections of the paper present the results from analyses of original data accumulated on ninety-four Iowa children of northwest European ancestry and above average socioeconomic status. The topics investigated are (1) reliability of arch width measurements, (2) central tendency and variability of arch width distributions for boys and girls 9 years of age, and (3) arch width interrelationships at the age of 9 years. Selected findings are: 1. 1. Both the minimum transverse distance between the lingual surfaces of the permanent first molars and the maximum rectilinear breadth between the buccal surfaces of the permanent first molars can be obtained through the medium of dental casts with high morphologic validity and reliability. 2. 2. Generalizing for the two arches and both sexes, minimum interlingual width at the permanent first molars on the 9-year-old children studied averages 32.5 mm., or 1.28 inches. The corresponding over-all mean for maximum interbuccal width at the permanent first molars is 53.5 mm., or 2.11 inches. 3. 3. On the average, the maxillary arch is wider than the mandibular arch by approximately 1.3 mm. in interlingual diameter at the permanent first molars and 2.9 mm. in interbuccal diameter at the permanent first molars. The average boy has a wider dental arch than the average girl by about 2.4 mm. in interlingual diameter and 3.2 mm. in interbuccal diameter. 4. 4. There is neither a high relationship between the interlingual and interbuccal measurements of a given dental arch nor between the maxillary and mandibular measurements for a comparable diameter. The correlations found on homogeneous age-sex groups are of the order e r = 0.85 for interlingual widths in relation to complementary interbuccal widths, and e r = 0.75 for upper arch widths in relation to corresponding lower arch widths.

Body size and form of children of predominantly black ancestry living in West and Central Africa, North and South America, and the West Indies.

Stature, sitting height, hip width, arm and calf circumferences and body weight have been measured in black children of Richland County, South Carolina. Lower limb height and three indices of body shape were obtained from the measurements. Sample size exceeded 200 for each of five age-sex groups representing girls and boys aged 6 years, girls and boys aged 9 years, and boys aged 11 years. Comparisons are made with findings from previous research on children of predominantly black ancestry living in west and central Africa, the West Indies, and North, Central and South America. Black children of Richland County measured during 1974--77 are taller than black children studied since 1960 in Angola, Chad, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda, Anguilla, Barbados, Cuba, Guyana, Jamaica, Nevis, St. Kitts, St. Vincent, and Surinam. Children of well-to-do black families in Accra and Ibadan are no taller or heavier than black children of Richland County taken without regard to socio-economic status. In hip width, averages for Richland County black children are larger than those for children of the Hutu and Yoruba tribes; in arm girth they are larger than children of the Hutu and Tutsi tribes. Age changes and group differences are reported for hip width relative to lower limb height, and lower limb height relative to sitting height. During childhood, the hip/lower limb index decreases, and the lower limb/sitting height index increases. Almost identical hip/lower limb indices characterize black populations in Africa, Cuba, and the United States.

Recent studies on growth of the body and face

Abstract Through materials drawn mainly from one research program, it has been shown that during the last decade (1) knowledge on bodily and facial growth in childhood has increased substantially, and (2) progress has been made in utilizing research data to derive clinically useful reference charts.

A Comparison of two Methods of Obtaining Biparietal and Bigonial Measurements

THIS paper pertains to methodology, to that sector of anthropometry known as cephalometric technic. It presents a study of the relative adequacy of cephalometric data collected by alternative procedures. Two procedures or methods were investigated: (1) a radiographic procedure, and (2) a method of direct measurement. Both were applied in determining selected dimensions of the calvaria and face. The purpose was to compare and evaluate the methods from the standpoints of data reliability and validity.

Change during childhood and youth in facial depths from integumental profile points to a line through bregma and sellion

Summary This investigation was designed to study several facial depths and two facial angles. The materials were roentgenograms taken in norma lateralis on boys and girls studied longitudinally. From a line drawn through two calvarial landmarks and on through the face, perpendicular distances were measured to integumental points designated nose root, pronasale, superior labial sulcus, labrale superius, labrale inferius, inferior labial sulcus, and chin prominence. The angles measured were formed by intersection of an inferior mandibular line with the bregma-sellion line and the nasion-sellion line. The subjects were North American white children with acceptable orthodontic occlusion. Twenty-five boys and twenty girls were studied from age 5 to age 14, and smaller samples were studied between the ages of 14 and 17 years. Selected findings and proposed clinical implications are as follows: 1. Means for each facial depth studied increase with age throughout childhood and adolescence. Conversely, means for the acute angle between the nasion-sellion and inferior mandibular lines decrease with age. 2. Means at age 14 are larger than corresponding means at age 5 by approximately 18 per cent for distance from the bregma-sellion line to pronasale, 15 to 16 per cent for distance from the bregma-sellion line to the chin prominence, and 12 to 13 per cent for distance from the bregma-sellion line to the nose root. These figures support the generalization that, during childhood and adolescence, depth to pronasale is increasing relative to other facial depths. 3. Means in boys are significantly larger than those in girls for five depth dimensions compared at 5, 8, 11, and 14 years of age. 4. The means for the acute angle between the nasion-sellion line and the inferior mandibular line show an 8 per cent decrease over the period between 5 years and 14 years. A negative change during this 9 year span is found for 90 per cent of the individual subjects. This finding indicates the need for developing clinical norm values that decrease with age for angles involving the anterior cranial base and the inferior mandibular line. 5. The average angle found between the nasion-sellion and inferior mandibular lines is found to be significantly larger for girls than for boys at the ages of 5, 8, and 11 years (by about 3 degrees). This finding points to the desirability of separating the sexes for construction of clinical norms in respect to angles involving the inferior mandibular line. 6. All facial depths increase in variability between ages 5 and 11 years for girls and between ages 5 and 14 years for boys. There is considerable difference in the extent to which comparable distributions overlap at different ages. The distributions at ages 5 and 14 show no overlapping for the facial depth to pronasale and practically complete overlapping for the facial angle between the nasion-sellion and inferior mandibular lines. 7. With respect to facial depths at the levels of pronasale, labrale superius, labrale inferius, and the chin prominence, moderately strong positive associations are found for size at age 5 and for size at age 14. Associations of this type become slightly higher as the age span under study is shortened. 8. No evidence is found to support the hypothesis that face depth at a childhood age and subsequent increase in face depth are positively related variables. For the four depths involving pronasale, the upper and lower lips, and the chin prominence, size at age 8 and at age 11 varied independently of change in size during succeeding periods of 6 and 3 years, respectively. These results require critical reconsideration of a prevalent clinical perspective regarding prediction of changes during childhood of points on the integumental profile. 9. Moderately high associations ( r s between 0.91 and 0.95) are obtained for (a) change between 5 and 14 years in face depths at the levels of the upper lip and lower lip, (b) change between 5 and 14 years in face depths at the levels of the lower lip and chin prominence, (c) face depths at age 14 years for the upper and lower lip levels, and (d) face depths at age 14 years for the lower lip and chin levels. A negative correlation ( r = −0.64) is found for the change in the obtuse angle between the bregma-sellion and inferior mandibular lines and for the change in facial depth at the level of the chin prominence. 10. Multivariate facial comparisons are presented for selected subjects. These portray variations within and between individuals in facial depths and angles at childhood ages and in changes of facial depths and angles with age.

Body Size and Form of Black and White Female Youths Measured during 1974-1975 at Columbia, South Carolina.

From original data at age 13 years on 386 North American females (201 black and 185 white), statistics are presented for 10 somatic variables. The 2 ethnic groups yield similar means for standing height, arm girth, and leg girth; the black females, contrasted with their white peers, are shorter in sitting height, longer in lower limb height, and narrower in hip width. The Columbia subjects are compared with black and white females studied in North America several decades ago, and with black and white females studied recently in other parts of North America and in Australia, Europe, Africa, and the Lesser Antilles.