1988 Volume 54 Issue 3 Pages 110-121
In the previous poaper, the author reported the relationships of hemoglobin (Hb) values with growth and onset of menarche, using 6-17 year-old school children (2, 229 boys and 2, 158 girls) in Amakusa, Kumamoto Prefecture. The present report further examined the different growth pattern by sex with special reference to growth rate as a trigger of anemia in adolescent girls. Results are are as folows. 1) Growth spurt of boys in stature, weight, chest girth and sitting height was observed during 12-14 years of age, while girls' spurt was much earlier, during 10-12 years of age, when girls' values were higher than boys. 2) Sex-age means of anthropometric values and Hb level correlated highly, but between individual values, few significant correlation coefficients were obtained. 3) In boys, age-means of anthropometric values increased in accordance with that of Hb values. But in girls, Hb value showed its peak when growth rate was maximum. Thereafter, girls' Hb values decreased slightly irrespective of ageing, although physical growth rate was low. For this reason, girls' anthropometric values correlated with Hb values positively in 6-12 year-old group, and adversely in 12-17 year-old group. 4) Girls' growth spurt preceded their "Hb spurt" about 0.5-2 years, which might be interpreted as if growth triggered increment of Hb level in girls. 5) The age-distribution of girls anemia (Hb 12.0 g/dl) was V-shaped, and the proportion of anemia was the lowest when their growth rate was the highest. Girls' anemia was higher in groups with low annual growth rate of height and weight than those with opposite growth pattern.
