Indian kids growing well: study

NEW DELHI: Indians have a reason to celebrate -- the country’s children are growing well. Indian children are now taller and heavier than what they were 20 years ago, says a report, recently published in the National Medical Journal of India. ‘On average an 18-year-old child belonging to an upper income family is about 4.5 centimetres taller and about 4 kilograms heavier than in 1992,’ according to researchers from the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Height and weight of children across the socio-economic spectrum have registered an increase but the hike is sharper in children belonging to upper income groups, the report says. The average height of boys has increased by 2 inches while their average weight has increased by more than 6 kg. This has emerged in the nationwide study covering over 1.06 lakh boys and girls in the 5-18 years age group in 19 cities all over the country. One of the key factors for the changing physical parameters of the children is improvement in their nutritional status. It is also an indicator of overall development and improvement in facilities such as sanitation, transport and hygiene, it said. The absence of infectious diseases also contributes to weight gain because any episode of infectious disease causes loss in weight. It has been observed that children worldwide have become taller and heavier in the past few decades. In the developed world, the trend of an increase in height plateau after the 1960s but it continues in the developing world with varying degrees. The study is the fi rst such conducted at the national level, the researchers said. The last study done in 1992 had a much smaller sample size and it was spread over 12 cities only. The median height of a 12-year-old boy in 1992 was 145.8 cm compared to 150.1 cm now. An 18-year-old boy now has median height of 174.3 cm compared to 169.8 cm in 1992. The median weight of a 12-year-old boy has gone up from 34.8 kg in 1992 to 41 kg now. It is up from 58.6 kg in 1992 to 66.2 kg for an 18 year old. Similarly, the median height of a 12-year-old girl has changed from 146 cm to 149.8 cm, while for an 18-year-old girl the change is from 157 cm to 158.5 cm. The average height of girls has increased by 0.5 inches, while their weight has increased by more than 7 kg The mean weight of a 12-year-old girl rose from 35 to 41.9 kg. The change for an 18 year old girl is 48.4 to 55.6 kg. Out of 1,06,843 children who were evaluated, 42,214 children (19,303 boys, 22,911 girls) were from the lower socioeconomic strata and 64,629 children (34,411 boys, 30,218 girls) were from the upper socioeconomic strata. School fee was taken as a proxy for socio-economic status of the children. ‘India is undergoing a major transition and this study provides a clear evidence of this,’ said Dr Raman Kumar Marwaha, who led the study.