Relationship between selected anthropometric variables and prevalence of flatfoot among urban and rural school children in south west Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Flat foot is a common reason for attendance at children's orthopaedic clinics. Its prevalence which varies from one population to the other has been reported to be influenced by various factors.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the effect of nutritional status as indicated by factors such as height, weight and BMI on the prevalence of flatfoot in school age children in urban and rural areas in south-western Nigeria.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study involved 560 children with age range 6 to 12 years. They were divided into two groups; rural and urban. The demographic and anthropometric data of all the subjects was taken. Each subject's static footprint was taken on a white duplicating paper after which the instep was measured and the footprint classified into high arch, normal, flat or severe flat. The body mass index and nutritional status of each subject was calculated from the anthropometric data. Epi Info statistical package programme version 3.5.1 (2008) was used to analyse the data.

RESULTS: There was a statistically significant (p < 0.05) prevalence of flatfoot between the rural dwelling (18.2%) and the urban dwelling (32.9%) children. Anthropometric measurements were significantly higher in urban than in rural children. Nutritional status of urban children was also significantly higher than that of the rural children.

CONCLUSION: Flatfoot is more prevalent in school age children in urban area than in the rural area; age and body mass index being the primary predictors for flatfoot.