Roche and Malina have compiled a truly encyclopedic collection of physical and functional status measurements in children. Their work is a three-set, two-volume series that draws from and summarizes an expansive literature on anthropometric measures and measurements of functional status in children. The first volume (1A and 1B) addresses measurements of both the body as a whole and specific body parts, and the second volume presents complementary data dealing with functional measurements, body composition, organ dimensions, physiologic data, and physical performance.
In most of the measurements reported, a distribution is summarized with the use of means and SDs drawn from the original work. In addition, an excellent list of annotated references is provided for the reader who is interested in a more exhaustive version of the data. Many tables consider representative samples of US or Canadian children, whereas others provide information on childhood populations from more narrowly defined geographic locations.