Preschool weights and heights of Europeans and five subgroups of Asians in Britain

Percentiles for anthropometric measures in 11-18 years-old students of 73 developing countries

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

one of the health concerns for any society is to have its own standard of growth. The aim of this study was to provide the age- and sex-specific percentile values of anthropometric measures for adolescents of developing countries. The use of global percentiles in developing countries overestimates underweight and stunting while underestimates overweight and obesity.

METHODS

The data were obtained from the Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS). This study was conducted on school students, selected by multistage random cluster sampling from 73 developing countries. A parametric method was used for constructing age-specific reference intervals (normal ranges).

RESULTS

In general, 210,045 11-18 years-old schoolchildren (14.38 ± 1.39) from 73 developing countries between 2003 and 2014 were included in this study, among which 103,080 (49.08%) were male and 106,965 (50.92%) were female. Calculation of body mass index (BMI) percentile showed that for all BMI percentile curves of both sexes, there was a gradual increase up to the age of around 15 years, and then remain stable (except for 95th percentile). Moreover in all weight percentile curves of boys, except 90th and above, there was a slight rise until the age of 18 years. In 10th height percentile curves and above in boys, there was a sharp increase up to the age of 17, followed by a decline. Similarly, this pattern was found for 50th height percentile and above in girls.

CONCLUSION

The use of global percentiles in developing countries overestimates underweight and stunting while underestimates overweight and obesity.

National growth charts for the United Arab Emirates

Background

Information on the health and growth status of the population is essential for planning and administering health promotion programs.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional study of the anthropometric measurements of United Arab Emirates (UAE) children aged 0-18 years, by a multistage stratified random sampling technique based on age and sex. Healthy, full-term children of UAE nationality who did not have any diseases that could affect their growth pattern were included in the study. Children were selected using multistage sampling, using sampling proportional to size methods in 9 geographical areas. Growth charts for various anthropometric measures were created using Cole’s LMS statistical package. This package estimates age-specific percentiles with the use of smoothing splines after transformation to normality.

Results

A total of 21,068 children (12,159 females) between the ages of 0 and 18 years were studied. In the present study, we included 8-15% of the population aged 0-18 years. The growth chart for 0-36 months is very similar to the NCHS growth reference chart in terms of both weight for age and length and height for age. The mean (+SD) length/height in children was 49.9 ± 3.2 cm at birth, 75.9 ± 5.7 cm at 12 months, 86.4 ± 4.5 cm at 24 months, 95.1 ± 5.9 cm at 36 months, and 111.1 ± 6.4 cm at 60 months. The height of UAE children in the first 3 years of life, especially at the ages of 2 and 3 years, mirrored those achieved by Brazilian children in the WHO study.

Conclusion

The results of the present study are useful for growth assessment of UAE children.

Age related reference ranges of respiratory rate and heart rate for children in South Africa

BACKGROUND

The authors have recently presented reference ranges for heart rate and respiratory rate in healthy resting schoolchildren, aged 4-16 years, in the United Kingdom. There are no similar ranges for children in the developing world.

AIMS

To undertake a study in Cape Town, South Africa, to establish whether the UK ranges may be applied to socioeconomically disadvantaged groups.

METHODS

Data on 346 children in a township school were recorded; their height, weight, heart rate, and respiratory rate were compared to the UK ranges.

RESULTS

The two groups plotted closely together by height and weight on the UK 90 growth reference charts. There was no difference in heart rate between the two groups, and a difference of 0.46 breathes per minutes in respiratory rate, which is not felt to be of clinical significance.

CONCLUSION

The reference rages of heart and respiratory rate derived in the UK may be applied to children in developing world situations.

Growth of Pakistani children in relation to the 1990 growth standards

This study was designed to compare the growth of Pakistani schoolchildren in the UK with the 1990 UK growth standards. Measurements of height, weight, and sitting height were performed on 785 Pakistani schoolchildren aged 5-14 years with the mean values for each age and sex being plotted on the UK growth standards. The results were expressed as SD scores relative to the 1990 reference data. The mean height for the boys was only 0.2 SD scores below the mean for the new growth standards with the mean height for the girls being 0.4 SD scores below the mean. The mean values for weight and body mass index were 0.3 and 0.5 SD scores less than the mean for boys and girls respectively. This study demonstrates that the growth of Pakistani schoolchildren in the UK is comparable to the 1990 UK growth standards with only minor differences. It is not safe to assume that short stature or low body weight in a Pakistani child is due to his or her ethnic background.