The effect of tropical and other environmental factors on stature and subcutaneous fat in Kampala nursery school children.

The adaptation of European children to life in tropical climates is a subject fraught with emotional and political undercurrents. The literature on the subject can be divided into two main groups: that concerning children living in areas where the European immigrant population is becoming assured, such as tropical Australia and Central America where the favourable aspects are emphasized (Cilento, 1925; Grenfell Price, 1935) and Colonial areas such as East Africa where the position is less secure and reports express anxiety (Mackinnon, 1923; De Boer, 1924; Roberts, 1949). The 'lassitude and mental dulness' of European school children in Kenya described in the very early papers is still discussed, although lassitude among children in those days could almost certainly have been attributed to malaria and other parasitic diseases which were far more prevalent then than now. All the authors quoted found that tropical European school children were taller at all ages than children in England and that the onset of the puberty growth spurt was earlier, especially in girls. The reaction to this feature was one of approval on the part of the Australian authors and of anxiety ('depressing effects of a hot house atmosphere') on the part of the East African authors. This paper is concerned, not with older children around whom an emotional rearguard action is still being fought, but with children of nursery school age (4 to 5years) in Kampala. Parents of these children were circularized and interviewed to find out whether they wished to bring any special complaints regarding their children to the notice of the school doctor. Almost all expressed some form of anxiety as to the suitability of the climate to their children's health. Many complained that their children had no appetite in Kampala although they ate satisfactorily while on leave in Great Britain. It occurred to me that this may have been a normal reaction to climate and that in a tropical climate one might expect to feel more comfortable with a thinner layer of subcutaneous fat. Very little work has been done on this aspect of adjustment to climate, although there is some evidence that body weight and basal metabolism tend to be lower in hot climates (Roberts, 1953). An attempt was therefore made to compare the height, weight and amount of subcutaneous fat (based on arm measurements and skin fold using a Harpenden caliper) of European children aged 4-5years in Kampala with children of the same age in England (Acheson, Kemp and Parfit, 1955; Hammond, 1955) and with Kampala African children of the same ages.