BACKGROUND: Several concerns have been raised by World Health Organization (WHO) expert groups regarding the adequacy of currently existing growth references, including those currently supported by WHO. As part of a concerted action of the European Union, new references were developed that were based on a well-defined sample of the European population and were compared with existing references. METHODS: During the longitudinal, observational multicenter study, anthropometric measurements using standardized methodology were performed in 2,245 children between 1 and 36 months of age, and sex- and age-specific growth references for recumbent length, weight, mid-upper arm, thigh, and calf circumferences were developed. RESULTS: The validity of the curve-fitting programs was demonstrated by comparing the selected sex-specific percentile distributions for all indices with the smoothed references. Comparison with the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)-WHO references for length and weight for age indicated that the -2 z-score value of the WHO reference as cutoff value shows that a substantial part of the children with suspected failure to thrive should be classified as normal. The references also indicate that the mid-upper arm circumference is age and sex dependent and that a single cutoff value for children less than 5 years of age should no longer be used. Mid-parental height was the best single predictor of recumbent length until 36 months of age. CONCLUSIONS: The Euro-Growth references that were developed reflect growth of a well-defined, large cohort of healthy infants and can be used for international comparisons.
BACKGROUND: Several concerns have been raised by World Health Organization (WHO) expert groups regarding the adequacy of currently existing growth references, including those currently supported by WHO. As part of a concerted action of the European Union, new references were developed that were based on a well-defined sample of the European population and were compared with existing references. METHODS: During the longitudinal, observational multicenter study, anthropometric measurements using standardized methodology were performed in 2,245 children between 1 and 36 months of age, and sex- and age-specific growth references for recumbent length, weight, mid-upper arm, thigh, and calf circumferences were developed. RESULTS: The validity of the curve-fitting programs was demonstrated by comparing the selected sex-specific percentile distributions for all indices with the smoothed references. Comparison with the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)-WHO references for length and weight for age indicated that the -2 z-score value of the WHO reference as cutoff value shows that a substantial part of the children with suspected failure to thrive should be classified as normal. The references also indicate that the mid-upper arm circumference is age and sex dependent and that a single cutoff value for children less than 5 years of age should no longer be used. Mid-parental height was the best single predictor of recumbent length until 36 months of age. CONCLUSIONS: The Euro-Growth references that were developed reflect growth of a well-defined, large cohort of healthy infants and can be used for international comparisons.
Authors: Manja Fleddermann; Hans Demmelmair; Veit Grote; Martin Bidlingmaier; Philipp Grimminger; Maximilian Bielohuby; Berthold Koletzko Journal: Eur J Nutr Date: 2015-11-30 Impact factor: 5.614
Authors: Janet C King; Kenneth H Brown; Rosalind S Gibson; Nancy F Krebs; Nicola M Lowe; Jonathan H Siekmann; Daniel J Raiten Journal: J Nutr Date: 2015-04-01 Impact factor: 4.798
Authors: Pasqua Piemontese; Maria L Giannì; Christian P Braegger; Gaetano Chirico; Christoph Grüber; Josef Riedler; Sertac Arslanoglu; Margriet van Stuijvenberg; Günther Boehm; Jürgen Jelinek; Paola Roggero Journal: PLoS One Date: 2011-11-30 Impact factor: 3.240
Authors: Marjolein Bonthuis; Karlijn J van Stralen; Enrico Verrina; Alberto Edefonti; Elena A Molchanova; Anita C S Hokken-Koelega; Franz Schaefer; Kitty J Jager Journal: PLoS One Date: 2012-08-15 Impact factor: 3.240