Correlation between foot length and height in a cohort of 1677 Nigerian school children

Abstract

Background: Dimensions of body parts have been used to estimate height in different populations using correlation equations. Among these, foot length has been found to be a reliable predictor of height in adult and pediatric populations. Aims: This study was designed to derive correlation equations for estimating height from foot length among a cohort of Nigerian school-age children. Subjects and Methods: Foot length, weight, and height measurements were obtained from healthy primary-school students of Nigerian descent aged 5–13 years in Benin City, Nigeria. Results: In total, 1677 subjects consisting of 778 boys and 899 girls were included in this study. The mean height for boys and girls was 134 ± 11 cm and 135 ± 13.5 cm, respectively, while the mean foot length was 21.9 ± 2 cm in boys and 21.9 ± 2.1 cm in girls. A significant correlation was observed between the length of both feet in boys and girls. No significant gender differences were observed in the foot length. A significant correlation was observed between height and the average foot length in boys and girls (P < 0.0001 for both sexes). We derived linear regression equations to determine the height from foot length for boys (height [cm]) = (4.6238 × average foot length [cm]) + 32.843 and girls (height [cm]) = (4.9276 × average foot length [cm]) + 27.373. Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed rank test determined that there was no statistically significant difference between the actual and predicted height based on the regression equations in both sexes. Conclusion: Our findings show that foot length can be used to estimate the height of school-aged Nigerian children. This finding is valuable in forensic medicine and in the estimation of height when actual height measurement is not possible.