Abstract

While total stature has been demonstrated to decrease throughout the day, whether a diurnal effect applies to Nigerian children has not been reported, the aim of this study was to investigate diurnal stature variation in school children in Makurdi, Nigeria. The stature of 625 children aged 9 to 16 years were measured twice (morning and afternoon) on the same day with a wall mounted stadiometer. The first measurements were taken between 07:00 and 09:00 h and the second measurements between 12:00 and 14:00 h. Differences in children’s stature measurements differences were 0.0 to 0.6 cm and a mean of 0.03 ± 1.05 cm decrease was observed. Diurnal variation of stature is confirmed among Nigerian children living in Makurdi. Little differences in stature evaluation could be important in assessing short children in clinical examinations. The present data provides a baseline data for further studies examining this phenomenon in children or adults in other ethnic groups using different designs.

Key words: Children, diurnal variation, stature.