Head circumference (h. c.) of 108 children without mental deficiency whose height or weight were deviated more than 2 SD from the average, were measured. Five cases with hydrocephalus and 10 with microcephalus were also studied.
Head circumference of 34 of 66 short children (51. 5%) were below the average minus 2 SD. Head circumference of 2 of 4 tall children (50%) were larger than the average plus 2 SD. Only 7 of 32 underweight children with normal height (21. 9%) and 3 of 13 obese children with normal height (23. 1%) had smaller or larger h. c. respectively than the average ±2 SD.
When h. c. of the children with pituitary dwarfism, hypothyroidism, Turner's syndrome and malnutrition was compared with the h. c. corresponding to height age, the difference was smaller than that when compared wih the h. c. corresponding to chronological age. It was shown that thesmallness of the h. c. of children with constitution' dwarfism should be evaluated compareing with “h. c. corresponding to height” (=height measured × average h. c./average height) as the standard.
Head circumference of some cases with hydrocephalus, microcephalus and low birth weight infant was followed up from birth till one year, and it was emphasized that the rate of growth was important indicator to judge normal or abnormal.
