A Comparative Study on the Cephalic Indices of Normal Growing Children and Children with Sickle Cell Anaemia In Port Harcourt

Abstract

A comparative study on cephalic index was carried out on 50 patients, 28 males and 32 females homozygous for sickle cell anaemia, who attended the sickle cell clinic at the University of Port Teaching Hospital between the age ranges of 3-18 years. The same was also done for 250 normal growing children 131 males and 119 females between ages 3-18 years who are pupils of schools within at the University of Port Harcourt as well as First International Academy, Rumuokoro, Port Harcourt. The Head Length (Greatest anteroposterior diameter) was measured with the help of spreading calliper, from glabella to inion. The Head breadth was measured as the maximum transverse diameter between two fixed points. The results showed a mean cephalic index value of 79.8±4.3 for the normal growing children while that for male sickle cell children was 77.1±3.7 which is significant (P<0.05). The mean cephalic index for normal female children was 79.9±3.9 while that for female sickle cell children was 78.4±.8 which is statistically non-significant. Thus, it has been deduced that sickle cell anaemia has an effect on this anthropometrics index.