Possible urban-rural difference in habitus of school children in Sendai.
Right after a large-scale merge involving 2 cities and 2 towns in 1987-1988 to form an enlarged city of Sendai, the body habitus of school children (in the 6th year-grade in primary schools and 3rd year-grade in junior high schools) were compared among the 4 regions (called by the pre-merge names of Akiu, Izumi, Miyagi and Sendai). The analysis showed that primary school boys in Sendai are taller and heavier than the boys in Izumi, and Izumi boys are heavier than Akiu boys. In junior high schools, Izumi girls are taller than Sendai girls with smaller Rohrer's and Quetlet's index. The observation indicates that the difference in body habitus is present in agreement with variation in the extent of urbanization in the regions.
Nakatsuka
H
H
Department of Environmental Health, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai.
Satoh
H
H
Watanabe
T
T
Ikeda
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D001824:Body Constitution / Q000208:ethnology*; D001835:Body Weight / Q000208:ethnology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D012424:Rural Population; D014505:Urban Population