Anthropometric Measurements in Adolescent Students: A Comparison among Three Ethnic Groups Living in North-Central Nigeria

Abstract

Weight and height measurements together with Body Mass Index (BMI) are commonly used anthropometric measurements for the estimation of relative weight, which has a direct relationship with nutritional status, and for the classification of individuals as underweight, normal, overweight or obese. A randomized cross-sectional study of 1,057 adolescent students from three different ethnic groups living in Katsina-Ala town, North-Central Nigeria, was conducted. The students were aged 10-19 years, and were divided into two age groups: 10-14 years and 15-19 years. The two groups were later separated by gender into male and female subgroups. The One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to assess if the differences observed across the age, gender and ethnic groups were statistically significant. Further statistical testing was carried out using the Tukey-Kramer Multiple Comparisons Test. The results showed extremely significant differences, with P-Values up to ≤ 0.0001 amongst the various groups, in weight, height and BMI.

Keywords: anthropometric measurements, adolescents, body mass index, ethnic groups, Katsina-Ala.