Assessment of anthropometric and physical profile of selected school-age children in rural and urban setting in South-West Nigeria (NigeriaLINX pilot)

Objective: the objective of this study was to examine the anthropometric and physical profile of selected school-age children in rural and urban setting. Methods: the descriptive cross-sectional design was adopted for the study while multistage sampling techniques, which included simple random and systematic sampling techniques, were used to draw samples from the target population. The sample constitute healthy children who voluntarily participated in the study after consent for participation was given by individual parent. Anthropometric measurements for the study included height, weight, sitting height and BMI while the physical fitness tests for the study included sit and reach, handgrip strength, speed bounce, standing broad jump, 10m x 5 shuttles run and multistage fitness test. Z score, STEN score and independent T-Test were used for data analysis. Results: a total of 222 healthy children with average age of 10 years (male=112, female=109) participated in the study. The results showed that the urban children were taller (Urban=141.3 +/- 9.2m; Rural=134 +/- 21.3m), heavier (Urban=37.6 +/- 10.4kg; Rural=28.2 +/- 6.2kg), had more leg power (Urban=105.7 +/- 25.5; Rural=49.4 +/- 41.0) and arm strength (Urban=15.7 +/- 4.1; Rural=13.4 +/- 5.2) than rural children. However, the rural children had higher sit and reach score (Rural=25.3 +/- 5.8; Urban=22.8 +/- 6.0) and completed more laps in multistage fitness test (Rural=35.5 +/- 25.5; Urban=12 +/- 5.7). The statistical analysis showed that all the variables were significantly different urban and rural children (P<0.05). Conclusion: the current study shows that the children in the urban and rural settings differed in the selected anthropometric and physical variables. Therefore, the physical education program and infrastructural facilities for physical activity and sport participation for school age children should be designed based on the socioeconomic status, social amenities and level of development of the host community.