Table 1.
Characteristics of the participants (N = 183)
| Variable | Girls n = 97 |
Boys n = 86 |
p-value |
|---|---|---|---|
| n (%) | n (%) | ||
| Grade | |||
| One (age 5) | 44 (48.4) | 47 (51.6) | 0.210a |
| Four (age 9) | 53 (57.6) | 39 (42.4) | |
| Nationality | |||
| Qatari | 58 (43.9) | 74 (56.1) | <0.001a |
| Non Qatari | 39 (76.5) | 12 (23.5) | |
| Anthropometry | Mean ± SD | Mean ± SD | |
| Grade One | |||
| Age (Years) | 5.7 ± 0.5 | 5.9 ± 0.6 | 0.040b |
| Height (cm) | 118.1 ± 5.8 | 119 ± 10.5 | 0.652b |
| Weight (Kg) | 22.9 ± 5.8 | 22.4 ± 4.6 | 0.601b |
| Body mass index (Kg/m2) | 16.2 ± 2.9 | 15.9 ± 2.6 | 0.500b |
| Grade Four | |||
| Age (Years) | 9.1 ± 0.6 | 8.8 ± 0.4 | 0.010b |
| Height (cm) | 136.9 ± 7.9 | 133.7 ± 8.3 | 0.063b |
| Weight (Kg) | 37.2 ± 13.8 | 36.6 ± 11.9 | 0.834b |
| Body mass index (Kg/m2) | 19.6 ± 5.7 | 20.1 ± 4.6 | 0.626b |
aA chi-squared test for homogeneity
bStudent t-test