Characterization of the head and face in 7-12 years oldFars children of Arak (Central Iran): An anthropometricstudy

摘要

Physical variations of races can be characterized by anthropometric indices.However, anthropological findings indicate not only that each racial group has its own stan-dards but within the same race, each subgroup had its own standards. Some anthropometricstudies were carried out on Iranian population but they are not enough. In this cross-sectionalresearch 1695 native 7-12 years old children from Arak (Central Iran) were investigated.Some of the physical variables such as head length, width and circumference, facial lengthand width were measured. Cephalic and facial indices based on these variables were evalu-ated. The results showed that the dominant type of cephalic index was the mesocephalic one,while the dolicocephalic type was less frequent. The dominant type of facial index was theeuryprosopic one, the less frequent type the hyperleptoprosopic one. Between males andfemales no statistically significant differences in the distribution of these indices could beobserved. The types of head and face of the Arak children differ somewhat from thoseobserved in populations from other parts of Iran as well as from those of neighboring coun-tries. These differences indicate the importance of the physical standards of the Arak childrenas a Fars subgroup of Caucasians.