Secular change in body size and somatotype of Indonesian children aged 7–15 years (1999–2019)

BACKGROUND: Secular changes assessment can help identifying the quality of health, wealth, and nutrition among populations and provide suggestions for policymakers. AIM: To examine the secular changes in weight, height, body mass index, and somatotype in Indonesian children between 1999 and 2019. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 1999 and 2019 on 2021 children aged 7–15 years in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Anthropometric measurements including height, weight, humerus and femur breadths, circumferences of upper arm and calf; skinfold thickness of triceps, subscapular, suprailiac, and calf were measured. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated as kg/m2. Somatotype components were defined by the Carter-Heath method. Statistical analyses used were three-ways ANOVA and least significant difference post hoc tests. RESULTS: Significant differences for boys and girls were found for height, weight, BMI, and three components of somatotype across the 2-time points. The boys in period 2019 were the tallest and girls were the heaviest, and for BMI, the highest value was observed in 2019 (girls). The children in the 1999 period had somatotype values 3.3-3.3-3.7 (boys) and 3.9-3.0-3.5 (girls), while in the 2019 period the somatotype values for boys were 3.5-4.5-3.0 and 4.3-4.1-2.4 for girls. CONCLUSION: In general, based on the order of age, there is a similar pattern between children in the two periods. Among Indonesian children from 1999 to 2019, there were positive trends in weight, BMI, endomorph, and mesomorph components, whereas a negative trend for the ectomorph component. © 2021 Neni Trilusiana Rahmawati, Janatin Hastuti.