Estimation of Body Mass Index from Toe Length of Adult Yoruba Populace in Nigeria

Anthropometric measurements are quick and relatively easy to obtain and require inexpensive equipment. Body Mass Index (BMI) is a simple index of weight-for-height that is commonly used to classify underweight, overweight and obesity in adults. Determination of BMI will help in early detection of some related diseases and could also aid forensic investigation when unraveling the identity of an unknown person is essential. 490 adults Yoruba traced to their grandparents, with equal percentage of males and females with age ~ l8years and consented were involved in the study. Toe length (1 T big toe - ST little toe) was measured using digital vernier caliper, foot length was measured using steel meter rule, height was taking using stadiometer and weight using weighing scale and BMI was calculated in. SPSS (IBM®) t-test was to compare gender difference in the measured dimensions; while Automatic & Generalized Linear Modeling were used to determine the predictability of BMI from the toe lengths. The significance level was set at 95% as P ~ 0.05 was considered significant. Results oft-test revealed a significant higher value in all the toe lengths in males compared to females (P<0.05). The automatic regression analysis of the females displayed significantly higher prediction of BMI for R.2T, R.5T and L.5T (P<0.001 ). While the toe length of the males showed no prediction of BMI. Concurrently, the foot length did not predict BMI (P>0.05). Therefore this provides alternative method ofBMI estimation and could serve as complement in forensic anthropometry. However this is gender specific thus require caution in its usage.

Key Words: Yoruba, BMI, Toe length, Foot length, Regression