This study is the first Indian longitudinal growth survey from early childhood to maturity. The heights of 303 boys and 260 girls, from middle-class families in a semi-urban area south of Calcutta, were measured at regular intervals over periods of up to 14 years (between 1952 and 1966). The data were analysed using appropriate mixed longitudinal and curve-fitting techniques. Growth in height of these middle-class Bengali children, who are not a representative sample of the Indian population, is slightly above the national Indian Council of Medical Research Standards. In both sexes, mean heights are below the 10th centile line of the British standards from an early age onwards, mainly due to a smaller prepubertal growth. The adolescent growth spurt in the Indians similar to that seen in British children, as is the age at which it occurs (peak height velocity at 14.0 years in boys, 12.5 years in girls). The sex difference of 14.0 cm in adult stature is attributable to a greater adolescent gain in the boys of 6.0 cm, a greater height in boys at the girls' age at take-off of 3.3 cm and a gain in height by the boys of 4.7 cm between the girls' and boys' ages at take-off.

The objective of the study was to analyse selected anthropometric features of children, adolescents and young adults from middle-class families in Kolkata, India, by BMI and adiposity categories. Standardized anthropometric measurements of 4194 individuals (1999 male and 2195 female) aged 7–21 were carried out between the years 2005 and 2011. The results were compared by BMI and adiposity categories. Statistical significance was assessed using two-way-ANOVA and linear regression analysis was performed. The study population could be differentiated in terms of BMI and adiposity categories for all examined anthropometric characteristics (p ≤ 0.001). After taking age into consideration, differences were observed for males in the case of body height and humerus breadth in BMI and adiposity categories, and for femur breadth in the case of adiposity categories. For females, differences were noted in body height measurements in BMI and adiposity categories, a sum of skinfold thicknesses in BMI categories, and upper-arm and calf circumferences in adiposity categories. The patterns of differences in the BMI categories were found to be similar to those in adiposity categories. The linear regression analysis results showed that there was a significant relationship between BMI and body fat ratio in the examined population. Underweight individuals, and those with low adiposity, were characterized by lower extremity circumferences and skeletal breadths. These features reached highest values in overweight/obese persons, characterized by high body fat. However, the differences observed between each BMI and adiposity category, in most cases, were only present in early childhood.

The Preece-Baines Model 1 curve has been fitted to longitudinal data on growth in height of 105 boys and girls in 70 Bengal families: 60 of these were sibs distributed in 25 families. For a number of growth characteristics, such as age at peak height velocity, the proportion of the total population variance that was due to variation between, as opposed to within, families was estimated by Smith's (1980) method. The proportions for age at take-off of the adolescent spurt, of age at PHV, and of PHV itself were 22%, 26% and 33% (where adult height gives a value of about 40%). The sample is small and these estimates have high standard errors and need confirmation.

This report deals with cross-sectional growth of sitting height (SH), subischial length (SL, estimated as height minus sitting height), height of the anterior superior iliac spine (HIS), and total arm length (TAL) of Bengali school boys (Calcutta), aged 7.0-16.0 years. Preece-Baines model 1 (PB1) fits to the cross-sectional means of the four traits estimate the average ages at maximum increment at 12.41 years for SL, at 12.43 years for HIS, at 12.97 for TAL, and at 13.74 years for SH. Maximum increment of the upper and lower segment of the body are reached at an earlier age in the present study than in a longitudinal analysis of semi-urban Bengali boys from the suburban area of Calcutta. Socioeconomic differences and secular trend might explain this shift towards earlier maturation.