Body proportions in children and adolescents with down's syndrome

Abstract

The present study aimed to evaluate the body proportions of sitting height and leg length in children and adolescents with Down's syndrome (DS). The sample consisted of 99 individuals with DS (40 girls with an average age of 11.45 ± 2.6 years and 59 boys with an average age of 12.07 ± 3.0 years). The following parameters were studied: chronological age, height, sitting height and leg length. The body proportions of each segment were calculated using body indices and the Phantom model. For the statistical analysis, the normality test and descriptive analyses of central tendency and dispersion were performed, and Student's t-test was used. For all treatments, the statistical software program SPSS version 13.0 was used, and a significance level of p < 0.05 was set. The body proportion of the upper and lower segments of children and adolescents with DS differed from those of the typical population in terms of leg length, whereas the seated height values of individuals with DS †were similar to those of individuals without DS.