Anthropometric Measurements of Babies in Urban and Rural Areas in Relation to their Socio-economic Variables

The study was conducted with the objectives to assess the comparative health status of urban and rural babies in relation to their ecological variables. The experimental material comprised 400 babies selected from urban and rural localities during the age of one to two years. The babies were divided into four categories of age group, two categories of localities and genders. Thus, working a sample of 25 male and 25 female babies in each age group from urban and rural localities. The selection of localities was purposive, while that of babies was random. Significant differences observed at all the age groups for all the anthropometric measurements revea led that there was enough differences in the level of development of babies at the interval of three months. Means quares due to gender were non-significant of all the components of physical development in urban area while signif icant in rural areas for height and weight. This revealed that there was preference of male babies for care resulting in better health particularly in rural areas. The comparison of mean values of anthropometric measurements indicated that urban babies were in general, better than rural babies, particularly where height and weight were comparatively better indicator of health than head and chest circumference as they revealed more clear differences in comparison of urban and rural data. Among socio-economic variables, family income and fathers’ occupation were the most important determinants of health of babies followed by education of fathers and birth order. Size of family was only important in rural area influencing health of babies

Anthropometry · Birth order · Birth weight · Environmental health · Geography · Population · Pregnancy · Rural area · Socioeconomics · Child and Adolescent Health · Demography · Human Health and Disease · Medicine · Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet