Multiple Points Change in the Association of Blood Pressure Subtypes with Anthropometric Indices of Adiposity among Children in a Rural Population.

Background: Hypertension has gained global significance and risk of cardiovascular disease, and adiposity is the most important of the conditions associated with and considered responsible for hypertension in children. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine whether indices of adiposity independently predicted blood pressure at multiple points in gender-specific groups.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving 10 randomly selected primary schools within the Ellisras Longitudinal Study, and involved 1816 adolescents (876 girls and 940 boys) aged 8 to 17 years.

Using the SITAR Method to Estimate Age at Peak Height Velocity of Children in Rural South Africa: Ellisras Longitudinal Study.

Various studies have been conducted on children using the Ellisras Longitudinal Study Survey in South Africa, but none of these has addressed growth variations of children in this rural location. The aim of this paper is to assess the age at peak height velocity using the superimposition by translation and rotation (SITAR) method for both boys and girls in rural South Africa. The study is part of the on-going Ellisras Longitudinal Study, and has employed secondary data during the period from November 1996 to November 2003.

Development and tracking of central patterns of subcutaneous fat of rural South African youth: Ellisras longitudinal study.

Background: Individuals grow and accumulate central patterns of body fat into the diseases they will suffer from as older adults. The need to elicit the development and tracking of central patterns of body fat from younger age into adolescent remains to be explored.

Method: Skinfolds measurements were done according to the standard procedures in the Ellisras Longitudinal Growth and Health Study.