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CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Volume 30, No 6, November/December 2019
AFRICA
347
Ellisras Longitudinal Study 2017: body frame variation
and adiposity among Polokwane private school children
(ELS 9)
RB Sebati, MS Monyeki, KD Monyeki
Abstract
Objective:
Obesity affects both developed and developing
countries and it affects children worldwide. The aim of this
study was to investigate the relationship between body frame
size and adiposity among Polokwane private school children.
Methods:
A total of 2 162 children (1 126 boys and 1 036
girls) aged five to 15 years attending three private schools in
Polokwane, a city in the Limpopo Province of South Africa,
participated in the study. Most of the participants were
black children (99.77%), whereas 0.2% were white, 0.01%
were coloureds and 0.02% were Indians. Subjects underwent
anthropometric measurements including weight and height,
skinfolds including triceps and subscapular, and body frame
including bi-iliocristal and transverse chest.
Results:
There was a negative significant correlation between
body mass index (BMI) (reflects adiposity) and height only
(reflects body frame) (
r
2
=
–0.268 and
r
2
=
–0.303, respectively)
among children in age group five to seven years. BMI was also
significantly and positively correlated with skinfolds and vice
versa (both reflect adiposity) (
r
=
0.345–0.571).
Conclusion:
There was a positive significant correlation
between adiposity (reflected by skinfolds and BMI) and sever-
al measures of body frame size among Polokwane private
school children. Moreover, body frame size can be used in the
detection of risk for obesity.
Keywords:
obesity, adiposity, body frame, skinfolds
Submitted 11/4/18, accepted 24/5/19
Cardiovasc J Afr
2019;
30
: 347–351
www.cvja.co.zaDOI: 10.5830/CVJA-2019-033
Obesity is a health epidemic affecting children worldwide.
1
The
rapidly growing prevalence of obesity could be due to changes
in behavioural patterns such as reduced physical activity as
well as over-consumption of high-fat and energy-rich foods.
2
Moreover, individual differences in energy consumption and
food metabolism could be responsible for the adiposity existing
among individuals.
3
Lifestyle influences that regularly impact on
patterns of nutritional intake, and physical activity, along with
other environmental factors that affect the development of the
body frame, seem to be more evident during adolescence.
4,5
Body frame size can be defined as the structure that supports
the skeleton and is used in the adjustment of skeletal mass and
size in measures of body weight and composition.
6
A study
assessing the relationship between body frame size and adiposity
in American urban school children found that body frame size
was related to the amount of fat in different adipose tissue
depots but not adipose tissue distribution.
7
Furthermore, in
urban and rural coloured South African school children, skeletal
frame width and the amount of adiposity were correlated.
7
It was
further elaborated that the correlation between skeletal frame
and adiposity persists longitudinally throughout childhood and
adolescence among individuals residing in very poor and in good
environmental conditions.
3
Since body mass index (BMI) has been validated as a
measure of adiposity among children and adolescents,
8
several
studies have been conducted across South Africa using BMI to
determine the adiposity status.
1,9
Some researchers took race and
school type into consideration,
10
while others considered socio-
economic status.
11
Another study conducted among children
in Limpopo assessed adiposity using two adiposity measures,
namely BMI and skinfold thickness.
12
Although a study relating adiposity with body frame size has
been conducted among children and adolescents in the Western
Cape Province of South Africa,
3
similar studies have never been
reported in the Limpopo Province or among Polokwane school
children. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate
the relationship between body frame size and adiposity among
Polokwane private school children aged five to 15 years.
Methods
A total of 2 162 children (1 126 boys and 1 036 girls) aged five
to 15 years attending three private schools in Polokwane, a city
in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, participated in the
study. Most of the participants were black children (99.77%) and
0.2% were white; 0.01% were coloureds and 0.02% were Indians,
which resulted in their exclusion from the analysis. South African
children attending private schools are mostly within the middle
and upper socio-economic groups of the population. Children
who were available at the schools during the days of the survey
participated in the study.
The ethics committee of the University of Limpopo granted
ethical approval prior to the study. Written informed consent was
attained from parents and guardians of the children.
All anthropometric measurements were done according to the
International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry
(ISAK).
13
Height was measured using a Martin anthropometer
to the nearest 0.1 cm. An electronic scale was used to measure
weight to the nearest 0.1 kg. BMI was calculated as weight (kg)/
height (cm) squared. Skinfold thickness (subscapular, abdominal
Department of Physiology and Environmental Health,
University of Limpopo, Polokwane, South Africa
RB Sebati, BSc Hons
MS Monyeki, MPhil
KD Monyeki, PhD, MPH,
kotsedi.monyeki@ul.ac.za