Growth status of schoolchildren in a rural Zapotec community in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, in 1968 and 1978.

Stature, weight, arm circumference, triceps skinfold and estimated mid-arm muscle circumference were compared in schoolchildren, 6 to 14 years of age, in 1968 and 1978. The children were resident in a rural Zapotec-speaking community in the Valley of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. There were no differences in stature, weight and arm circumference over the ten-year period. Triceps skinfold and estimated mid-arm muscle circumference showed small, significant changes. Multiple classification analysis, adjusting for age and sex variation, indicated that schoolchildren in 1978 were slightly heavier and fatter, but also slightly shorter and less muscular than children in 1968. Results of this follow-up survey indicate little improvement in the growth status of rural Zapotec schoolchildren over ten years from 1968 to 1978, and are consistent with adult stature data which show little evidence of secular change over 80 years.