Fronto-occipital Head Circumference Of Kenyan Infants Of African Origin Aged 0-12 Months Living In And Around Two major Towns In Kenya

Abstract

A cross sectional study to determine fronto-occipital head circumference was done on 890 healthy Kenyan infants of African origin living in and around the towns of Mombasa and Nairobi. The mean head circumference at birth was 35.0 cm. (SD 1.1) for male and 34.4 cm. (SD 1.0) for female infants. The mean increase in head circumference was 1.4cm. per month in the first six months and 0.4 cm. per month in the next six months for both sexes. The mean head circumference for boys and girls in infancy compared favourably with the practical composite international and interracial graphs for boys and girls computed by NelIhaus (1) from reports appearing in the world literature since 1948 to 1968. Boys had significantly larger head circumference than girls (0.01 < P <0.05). There was no statistical difference in head circumference between infants of various tribal backgrounds in Kenya.