Objective To investigate the developmental characteristics of arm span and the arm span/body length ratio in infants and young children. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 1 101 full-term, appropriate-for-gestational-age Han Chinese infants and young children (572 boys, 51.95%; 529 girls, 48.05%) who underwent health check-ups at the Department of Child Health Care, Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University from June 2022 to March 2024.Body length, weight, head circumference, arm span, and crown-rump length were measured.The arm span/body length and crown-rump length/body length ratios were calculated.Independent samples t-test was used to compare differences in indicators between sexes within the same age group.Pearson correlation analysis was employed to analyze the relationships between arm span, crown-rump length, and body length.Univariate linear regression was used to establish linear regression relationships between arm span, crown-rump length, and body length. Results There were significant differences in arm span between different genders of each age group (P＜0.05), with boys having larger measurements, while the arm span/body length ratio showed no significant gender differences (P >0.05).With increasing age, arm span and the arm span/body length ratio generally showed an upward trend in both boys and girls.The ranges of arm span were (55.3±1.9)cm to (90.4±5.1) cm for boys and (53.9±2.0)cm to (88.7±4.3) cm for girls.The ranges of arm span/body length ratio were 0.962±0.026 to 0.976±0.023 for boys and 0.957±0.025 to 0.973±0.022 for girls.Arm span was strongly positively correlated with body length in both boys and girls (r =0.988, 0.988,P <0.0001).Crown-rump length was also significantly positively correlated with body length (r=0.976 for boys, r=0.973 for girls, P<0.0001).The regression equations for arm span and body length were: Body length=0.983 × Arm span + 3.333 (R2=0.976) for boys and Body length=0.978 × Arm span + 3.868 (R2=0.976) for girls. Conclusions Arm span development in infants and young children exhibits age and sex differences.Arm span shows a strong correlation with body length and can be used to predict body length, with better predictive value than crown-rump length.The arm span/body length ratio increases with age.This study provides reference ranges for these measurements, offering valuable data for the early clinical identification of disorders characterized by disproportionate limb and trunk growth.
Key words
arm span /
body length /
arm span/body length /
body proportion /
infants and toddlers
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