Anthropometrically determined nutritional status and the school performance of black urban primary school children

Anthropometric parameters (height and weight) were used to assess the nutritional status of 1407 black children in a Soweto lower primary school. Cross-sectional profiles were obtained in 1981 and 1983 as well as a longitudinal study of 362 pre-adolescent children who remained in the school over the 2-year period. The major proportion of the distribution of percentage weight-for-age and percentage height-for-age was less than 100 per cent of NCHS reference median. There was a small but significant increase in mean percentage weight-for-height between 1981 and 1983. Children who were stunted and those whose growth rate over a 2-year period was known to be reduced failed more frequently. Apart from these the general range of anthropometric findings did not clearly correlate with classroom achievement as assessed by end-of-year marks. The age ranges of children in the different grades exceeded 5 years. The highest failure rate occurred in the school entry grade (Substandard A). Only in this grade were the older boys found to be less adequately nourished than their age peers in higher standards. Untested adverse social, family and environmental effects may mask the real consequences of suboptimal growth. Without anthropometry the latter would frequently not be apparent because of the generally proportional reductions in weight and height for age.