ISSN 0794-5698
Estimation of Height Using Arm Span of The Itsekiris in Delta State of Nigeria. *1A. K.Iteire,2E.Anibor and 2M.E.Akpo 2Department
1Department
of Anatomy, University of Medical Sciences,Ondo State of Anatomy & Cell Biology, Faculty of Basic Medical Science, Delta State University, Abraka, Delta State. [*Corresponding author: Email
[email protected]]
ABSTRACT: Arm span (AS) has been reported to be a good substitute for height measurement in osteoskeletally deformed patients and in the elderly with osteoporosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between arm span and height of the Itsekiris of Nigeria. The study employed a cross-sectional study design involving 300 healthy Itsekiris between the age of 20 and 70 years. The height and arm span of all volunteers were measured to the nearest centimeter. Height was measured with the subject on bare feet, feet together and with the calf, heel, buttocks and upper back touching the wall or stadiometer. The subject’s head was positioned erect with the eyes looking forward. Arm span accordingly was measured with a tape from the tip of the middle finger of one hand to the tip of the middle finger of the other hand, with the subject standing straight and back to the wall, both arms adducted to 90°. In this index, there was a weak positive correlation (0.048) which was not significant (p ≥ 0.05) between the male height and arm span, which suggested that arm span is not a good estimator of height for the male population. In the female population, there was a strong positive relationship (0.797) which was significant (p ≤ 0.001) between female height and arm span. This suggests that arm span was a good estimator of height for the females only in the population considered. Since arm span was a good predictor of height in only the female population, it is important for separate height models to be developed for each population on the account of ethnic, racial and gender differences. Keywords: Arm span, Height, Itsekiris’, Relationship, Estimation INTRODUCTION Anthropology studies the origin, physical and cultural development, biological characteristics, social customs and beliefs of humankind. It is made up of subbranches of which one is physical anthropology that describes humans in their biological, evolutionary and demographic dimensions (Havilandet al., 2010). Height is an important factor to narrow down the missing person’s identity. Some studies have previously reported the usefulness of several parameters in calculating height (Jalzem and Gledhill, 1993; Yun et al., 1995; Mitchell and Lipschitz, 1982). Arm span which is the length from the tip of the middle fingers to the left and right hands when raised parallel to the ground at shoulder height at 180° angle has been reported to be used in estimating height. However, the association of arm span and height was observed to differ racially (Reeves et al., 1996; Steele and Chenier, 1990). According to Gauldet al. (2004), height has been fundamental to assessing growth, nourishment, calculating body surface area, and predicting pulmonary functions in childhood. The establishment of alternative approaches for personal height estimation is important for a number of reasons (Ilayperumaet al., 2010). Primarily, in cases where height estimates need
to be made from fragments of bones in archeological procedures or in forensic examinations after mass disasters or genocide (Ebiteet al., 2008). Again, approximations of Pharmacokinetic parameters and assessment of nutritional status depend on precise measurements of not only weight, but also height (Ilayperumaet al., 2010). This has led several studies to recommend Arm span as a decent alternate measurement of height, both for its invariable nature with age and convenience in recording for hospitalized elderly patients and physical disabilities such as kyphosis (Hickson and Frost, 2003; Luftet al., 2008; Datta, 2011). Therefore this study was aimed at determining the relationship between arm span and height in the Itsekeri population of Nigeria. MATERIALS AND METHOD Study Population The study population was composed of about 270000 Itsekiris habiting in Warri, Delta state. The Itsekiris are an ethnic group of Nigeria’s Delta State. They are mainly in Warri South, Warri North and Warri South West local government districts of Delta State, Nigeria.
137
Full Length Research Article
Available online at http://www.ajol.info/index.php/njbas/index
Nigerian Journal of Basic and Applied Science (December, 2015), 23(2): 137-140 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njbas.v23i2.8
Iteireet al.:Estimation of Height Using Arm Span of The Itsekiris’ in Delta State
Sample size Three hundred (300) healthy adults between the ages of 20 to 70 years were randomly drawn from the population and were used for the study.
tip of the middle finger of one hand to the tip of the middle finger of the other hand, with the subject standing straight, with his/her back to the wall, both arms adducted to 90⁰, the elbows and wrists extended and the palms directly forward.
Selection Criteria i. Subjects aged between 20 to 70 years of age. ii. Both male and female. iii. Physically fit subjects with no deformities of the limbs affecting standing height or arm length. iv. Parents and grand-parents should hail from the Itsekiri ethnic groups.
Statistical Analysis The data generated were presented as means and standard deviations. Statistical significances were calculated using student t-test at 95% confidence limit (p ≤ 0.05). Pearson moment correlation was calculated to determine any existing relationship between the considered variables. All statistics were done with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 21).
Materials i. Standard 5m × 16Ft measuring tape ii. Stadiometer. iii. Scientific calculator. iv. Data sheet containing sex, age, arm-span 1, armspan 2, height 1, height 2 average arm-span and average height.
RESULTS Table 1 shows a very weak positive correlation between AS and height in the male population considered. This relationship was not significant (p ≥ 0.05) suggesting that AS was a weak estimator of height. On the contrary, AS of females was strongly positively correlated with their height and was significant (p ≤ 0.05). This suggests that AS was a reliable predictor of height in the female population considered.
Methodology (as modified from Canda, 2009) The body height and arm span were taken according to the protocol of the International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry (ISAK). The height and arm span of all participants were measured to the nearest centimeter (cm). Height was measured with the subject on bare feet, feet together and to the wall or stadiometer, with the calf, heel, buttocks and upper back touching the wall or stadiometer. The subject’s head was positioned erect with the eyes looking forward. Arm span was measured with a tape from the
Table 2 showed that males were significantly (p ≤ 0.05)taller than their female counterparts in the population considered. Also, AS of males was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) longer than that of females.
Table 1: Correlation of Height to AS in both Genders Parameters Mean ± SD Pearson coefficient Male Height 184.02± 10.48 Male AS 186.87 ± 0.61 0.048 Female Height 160.51 ± 0.53 0.797 Female AS 171.61 ± 0.57
p-val 0.563* 0.001**
Key: SD = Standard deviation; AS = Arm span; * = ≥ 0.05; ** = ≤ 0.05
Table 2: T-test for Gender Effect on Height and AS Parameters Mean ± SD T Male height Female height Male AS Female AS
184.02 ± 128.35 160.51 ± 6.55 186.87 ± 7.42 171.61 ± 6.93
df
p-val
2.256
149
0.026**
19.160
149
0.001**
Key: SD = Standard deviation; AS = Arm span; * = ≥ 0.05; ** = ≤ 0.05
138
Nigerian Journal of Basic and Applied Science (December, 2015), 23(2): 137-140
DISCUSSION The findings of the present study on the male population are similar to the work of Goon et al.(2011), which reported that arm span was significantly different from height in the Asian males. This suggested that arm span measurement may be an inappropriate substitution for height in certain male populations and contradicts results of other studies (Marfell-Jones et al., 2006; Reeves et al., 1996; Steele and Chenier, 1990) that reported that arm span was a good predictor of height in males since the study revealed a very weak relationship between arm span and height in the male population considered. Therefore we can affirm that arm span may not be a good predictor of height among the male population of the Itsekiris.
Datta B.S. (2011). Arm span as a proxy measure for height and estimation of nutritional status: A study among animals of Darjeeling in west Bengal India. Annals of Human Biology,38(6): 728-35. Ebite L.E., Ozoko T.C., Eweka A.O., Otuaga P.O., Oni A.O. and Om'Iniabohs, F.A.E.(2008). Height: Ulna Ratio: A method of stature estimation in a rural community in Edo state, Nigeria. The Internet Journal of Forensic Science, 3(1):12-18. Gauld L.M., Kappers J., Carlin J.B., Robertson C.F. (2004). Height prediction from ulna length.Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology,46(7):475-80. Goon D.T., Toriola A.L., Musa D.I., Akusu S. (2011).The relationship between arm span and stature in Nigerian adults. Kinesiology43(1):38-43. Haviland W.A., PrinsH.E.L., McBride B., Walrath D. (2010).Cultural Anthropology:The Human Challenge, 13th ed., Cengage Learning, ISBN 0495-81082-7. Hickson M. and Frost G. (2003). A comparison of three methods for estimating height in the acutely ill elderly population.Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 16(1):13-20. Ilayperuma I., Nanayakkara G. and Palahepitiya N. (2010).A model for the estimation of personal stature from the length of forearm.International Journal of Morphology, 28(4):1081-1086. Jalzem P.F. and Gledhill R.B. (1993).Predicting height from arm measurements.Journal of PediatricsOrthopedic, 13(6):761-765. Luft V.C., Beghetto M.G., Castro S.M.and De Mello E.D. (2008). Validation of a new method developed to measure the height of adult patients in bed. Nutrition in Clinical Practice.23:424-428. Manonai J., Khanacharoen A., Theppisai U., Chittacharoen A. (2001). Relationship between height and arm span in women of different age groups. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research,27:325-327. Marfell-Jones M., Timothy O., Arthur S., Lindsay C. (2006).International Standards for Anthropometric Assessment Potchesfstroom, International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry. Mitchell C.O. andLipschitz D.A. (1982).Arm length measurement as an alternative to height in nutritional assessment of the elderly.Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, 6:226. Ofluoglu D., Unlu F. and Akyuz G. (2008).Relationship between arm span and height in postmenopausal
In the female population, there was a strong correlation between height and arm span, consistent with the reports of (Steele and Chenier, 1990; Steele and Mattox, 1987). Therefore, arm span was a good predictor of height in the female population of the contemporary study, which was also consistent with the female population of other studies (Ofluogoet al., 2008; Marfell-Jones et al., 2006; Zverev and Chisi, 2005; Manonaiet al., 2001; Allen, 1989). CONCLUSION The findings of this study indicated that arm span is a good predictor of height in the female population only and not in the male population of the Itsekiris’. RECOMMENDATION Based on the above conclusion, it is necessary to develop a separate height model for each population on the account of ethnic differences. Although, arm span is still useful in the prediction of height among wheelchair athletes or other sport individuals with disabilities involving amputation of the leg or other deformities affecting standing height. Therefore, more studies on the discussed topic should be carried out on Nigerian population to show variety of findings. REFERENCES Allen S.C. (1989). The relation between height, arm span and forced expiratory volume in elderly women. Age Ageing,18: 133-116. Canda A. (2009). Stature estimation from body segment lengths in young adults’ application to people with physical disabilities.Journal of Physiological Anthropology,28:71-82. 139
Iteireet al.:Estimation of Height Using Arm Span of The Itsekiris’ in Delta State
osteoporotic women.Rheumatology International,28:737–741. Reeves S.L., Varakmin C. and Henry C.J. (1996). The relationship between arm span measurement and height with special reference to gender and ethnicity.The European Journal of Clinical Nutrition,50(60):398-400. Steele M. and Chenier T. (1990).Arm-span, height and age in black and white women.Annals of Human Biology,17(6): 533–41.
Steele MF, Mattox JW, (1987). Correlation of arm span and height in young women of two races.Annual Human Biology,15:445-447. Yun D.J., Yun D.K., Chang Y.Y., Lim S.W., Lee M.K.and Kim S.Y. (1995). Correlations among height, leg length and arm span in growing Korean children. Annual Human Biology,22 (5):443–58. Zverev Y. and Chisi J. (2005).Estimating height from arm span measurements in Malawian children.Collegium Antropologicum,29:469-473.
140
