Growth of The Upper and Lower Parts of Body In Turkish Schoolchildren and Youths: II-Lower Limb Length and Allometric Changes During The Adolescent Growth Period

Abstract

The smoothed percentiles o f leg length (iliospitıal height) for school-aged Turkish children and youths were reconstructed by using Saatçioğlu's and Duyar's data. These two studies have been carried out on high socioeconomic and cultural level in seven cities, each representuıg a modelity in the seven geographical regions of Turkey. Whıle Saatçioğlu*s stııdy consist of 7-11-yearold primary school children, in Duyar's investigation adolescents aged bet\veen 12 throught 17 have been measured. The data of these studies were smoothed by 4th degree of polinomials and the changes in body proportions were examitıed by regressing the log leg length on the log of the staııding height. Regression (allometric) coefficients show that the pattern of proportional changes witfı growth is not the same, i.e., when upper part of the body increases faster, the lower part icreases slower and it reverse at the next age. Regression coefficientfor upper and lower parts of the body closes to 1.0 during poberty, especially in peak height velocity.