Objective

With the increasing of standard of living, the body dimensions have evolved in many countries in recent decades and the aesthetic canons are very variable depending on the socio-cultural contexts. To study the morphological standards of adults in Benin.

Material/patients and methods

Prospective study, descriptive and analytical cross in sight conducted from October to December 2011 in the twelve departments of Benin. Stratified sampling, on 2412 Beninese adults (aged 18-67 years), apparently healthy (without medical or surgical history known), willing to participate in the study, examined by observation and morpho-statics measurements.

Results

A total of 66% of subjects are men. The type of the foot was Egyptian (55.7%), Roman (25.5%) and Greece (18.8%). Body mass index was 16.70 to 50,78 kg/m ² with an average of 25.19 ± 4,19 kg/m ² . The lengths of the feet, pelvic and thoracic limbs and sitting height averaged 26.32 ± 1.54, 91.85 ± 6.48, 77.63 ± 5.39 and 84.08 ± 4.75 cm respectively. Skelic and cephalic index were 109.33% and 76.19 ± 4.82. Biacromial and bicrete iliac distances and abdominal and thoracic areas were 41.17 ± 3.56; 27.03 ± 3.07; 90.73 ± 8.95; 86.12 ± 12.22 cm, respectively. Cervical and lumbar arrows varies from 2 to 9 cm and of 2 to 10 cm with respective averages of 3.45 ± 1.04 and 5.11 ± 1.59 cm. These measures were significantly different between men and women ( P = 0.00) except for the cephalic index ( P = 0.50).

Discussion-conclusion

There is a proportionality between the different morpho-static measures, the latter variables by gender. Similar studies in other countries, but on samples much larger, could help out the morphological characteristics of each country or continents.