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period, but the ultimate height and weight were less than that of their western
counterparto (Sundaram et a/. ,1088; Vir, 1090; Agarwal et a/. ,1092).
It is well known that adolescent growth spurt occurs earlier in girls than in boys. Up to
the age of 10-10.5 years of age a mean height increase of 5.0cms-6.0 cmslyear was
observed for both girls and boys. After that an accelerated growth in height was seen
in girls up to 13 years of age and in boys afier 13 years (Rao et a1.,1984; Qarnra et sl.,
1990a; Agarwal et aL,1992). Thus girls were taller than boys between 11-13 years of
age. They were also found to be heavier than boys between the ages of 9.5-14 years.
The mean height gain observed in girls and boys between 6 and 14 years of age from
a rural area was 32.lcm and 34.6~1 respectively and the corresponding mean weight
gain was 14.9kg and 13.7kg respectively (Rao et a1.,1984). Affluent girls between 10-
15 years of age were found to gain 17.5 cm in mean height and 15.1 kg in mean weight
(Pereira et a/., 1983). A study carried out by Agarwal in 1992. also in affluent girls,
showed that in the age between 9.517 years, girls gained 22.1 kg and boys 29.8 kg in
weight. In another study by Qamra in 1990, it was observed that the body mass index
(BMI) ol g~rls remained constant between 59 years of age (0.13 in upper
socioeconomic status:USES; and 0.14
in lower socioeconomic status:LSES).
Thereafter it increased to 0.15 in USES and 0.16 in LSES girls up to 13 years of age.
Beyond 13 years the BMI showed a rapid increase up to 16 years (the age up to which
the study was done) (Qamra et a1.,1990b).
A wide variation is seen in the growth pattern of school age children in India. Studies
have shown that the growth of girls and boys from USES is higher than those from the
LSES (Pereira el a1,1983; Rao el a1.,1984; Sundaram et a1.,1988; Qamra et a/.,1990c8