Comparative analysis of baseline and cranial measurements in idiopathic mentally retarded and normal children in South Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Background: Mental retardation, an incomplete development of mental capacities, and associated
behavioral abnormalities caused by a variety of genetic as well as environmental reasons where nonsyndromic or idiopathic cases account for 30–50%. Owing to the different applications, anthropometry
has turned out to be an excellent tool in the medical field. In the present study baseline, facial and
cephalometric measurements are used to assess mental retardation.
Methods: In the present study parameters such as body height, body weight, occipito-frontal diameter,
anterio-posterior dimension, biparietal diameter, cranial height, facial height, bi-zygomatic distance,
nasal length, nasal breadth, inner canthal distance, outer canthal distance, inter-pupillary distance are
measured to identify the variation in mentally retarded children. Cranial capacity, Cephalic index,
Cephalic length-height index, Transverse cranio-facial index, and facial and nasal indices were also
calculated. All the data obtained are statistically analyzed using SPSS version 22.0.
Results: A significant change in the height was noted in males in the study groups I and III (p<0.05).
Significant changes were noted in the Cephalic Index, Cephalic Length Height Index, Cranial Capacity,
and Nasal Index in some of the study subjects when compared to the normal subjects. The cephalic index
of the study subjects was found to be significantly lesser than that of normal children.
Conclusion: The present study has clearly explicated the association between mental ability and
cephalometric indices, in idiopathic mentally retarded children.