Growth Profile of Baiga Children - A Primitive Tribe of District Dindori of Madhya Pradesh, India

The present study has been carried out on 795 Baiga children (453 males and 342 females) of Baiga-chak area of Dindori district in Madhya Pradesh (MP) varying between 1-18 years of age with an aim to understand their growth profile using cross sectional design. Fourteen body measurements (weight, height, sitting height, lengths, breadths, circumferences and skin folds) were studied. Four indices namely Sitting height / Leg length, Bicristal breadth / Biacromial breadth, Head circumference / Chest circumference & Cephalic index were computed to study the proportionate body changes. All body measurements except for skin folds increased progressively in each age group showing insignificant difference between boys and girls in most of age groups with no evident peak velocity during pubertal age in both sexes. However skin folds showed inconsistent pattern with each successive age. The present children were slightly heavier and taller than tribal children of other areas but lighter and shorter than Bharia children(32). However, these children were comparable with all India rural children(20) but found below 10th percentile when compared with National Centre for Health Statistics (NCHS) standards(38). The absence of peak velocity and poor growth in studied children may be due to low intensity of growth rate. Proportionate changes observed in the present study were similar to Indian Punjabi girls(44).