Central and appendicular girth anthropometric measurements in Nigerian women.

Measurement of central (torso) and appendicular (limb) girths were made in Nigerian women of middle class extraction who were adjudged to be free from obesity and compared with Indian women of the same age and class reported in literature. It was found that all girth measurements tended to increase with increasing age and were higher in Nigerians than in Indians. Nigerians tended to be more obese in the buttocks, waist and abdomen. The values obtained should provide for anthropometric evaluation in obesity management with jejuno-ileal bypass surgical modality, paniculectomy-apronectomy and even in conservative methods of obesity management.