[Growth in Greenland. Development of body proportions and menarcheal age]

No recent investigations of child growth in Greenland are available. Owing to the secular trend, earlier investigations are of limited clinical value. For this reason I have studied together with my staff the most important anthropometric measurements of schoolchildren in Maniitsoq.

We recorded the weight, standing height, sitting height, armspan, and menarcheal age. After the exclusion of 52 children with at least one parent not of Greenlandic origin and the exclusion of ten children who were either suffering from conditions known to influence growth or in whom some of the anthropometric data were lacking, 266 boys and 271 girls remained in the study. The 537 children were between 5 and 19 years old.

Up to the age of 14, Greenlandic boys follow the Danish curves for standing height, then flatten out to a final mean height about 7 cms below the Danish level. The girls' growth curves follow the Danish ones only to the age of 11 years, then flatten out to a final height 5 cms below the Danish level. A somewhat higher sitting height ratio was recorded for both sexes compared to Danish children. The mean menarcheal age was 12.64 years.

Growth curves show that up to the age of 14 Greenlandic boys now follow the Danish ones, thereafter flattening out. Girls' growth curves flatten out already at the age of 11. The final height for boys is 7 cms and for girls 5 cms below that in Denmark. During the course of 100 years menarcheal age in Greenland has been reduced by three years, and is now three months below that in Denmark.