Growth of general body size of children in a fishing village in Indonesia

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to describe the characteristics of growth in children of a fishing village in Indonesia, and to compare these with those of children in a city and in an agricultural village. The height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) of children (254 boys and 286 girls) aged 7–18 years in a fishing village in Sumatra were investigated, and the biological variables based on cross-sectional data were obtained by cubic spline analysis. The children are smaller and lighter than city children. In the fishing and agricultural villages, where an equivalent social status was observed, a similarity in growth patterns was exhibited. In the fishing village, the girls’ age at ‘peak,’ i.e. maximum yearly increment, height and weight occurred about 1 year earlier than that of the boys. Height and weight at ‘peak’ were 4.5 cm taller and 1.2 kg heavier in the boys than in girls. The girls exhibited greater BMI, as well as weight, than the boys after age 10. The BMI was greater in the girls than in the boys except at ages 7 and 9, and the three variables affecting the ‘peak’ (i.e. increment, age, and value at peak) were identical in both sexes. In conclusion, the children belonging to the same socioeconomic status, whether living in a fishing village or an agricultural village, showed a similar process of growth, and a comparison with children living in a city suggested the main factor affecting growth is the improvement in the socioeconomic conditions in Indonesia.