Height SDS Changes (ΔhSDS) in Healthy Children from Birth to 18 Years, with Correction Factors for Measurement Intervals of Less than One Year.

BACKGROUND: Growth is volatile and non-linear. Assessing the instantaneous speed of growth (momentary height velocity) depends on the precision and the number of measurements and the duration of the observation period. Measurements at short intervals reflect both the non-linearity of growth and the technical error of measurements (TEM). MATERIAL: We reanalyzed longitudinal measurements of body length at age 0, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months, 18 months, and 24 months, from 1879 healthy infants (956 girls, 923 boys) from France (180 girls, 173 boys), Vilnius, Lithuania (507 girls, 507 boys), Lublin, Poland (67 girls, 56 boys), Zürich, Switzerland (94 girls, 102 boys) and Spain (108 girls, 95 boys); and longitudinal measurements of annual body height from age 2 to 18 years from 1528 healthy children and adolescents (774 girls, 754 boys) from France (41 girls, 47 boys), Vilnius, Lithuania (23 girls, 27 boys), Lublin, Poland (70 girls, 58 boys), Zürich, Switzerland (111 girls, 120 boys), Spain (94 girls, 74 boys), the Czech Republic (65 girls, 69 boys), Hungary (316 girls, 320 boys), and Berkeley, USA (54 girls, 39 boys). RESULTS: We calculated age - and sex-specific mean values for height and SD for height separately for each country. In addition, we defined the instantaneous speed of growth by the difference of two measures of hSDS Formulas References A1 , or in the case of multiple measurements, by the slope of the linear regression (ßhSDS(t)). Based on the longitudinal measurements of body length, we present reference values for annual growth velocity given in the form of SD of annual hSDS changes (ΔhSDS), from birth to maturity. Correction factors are added for validating measurements obtained at intervals of less than one year. The correction factors depend on number of measurements, and duration of the observation period.

The relationship between neonatal developmental status and post-natal nutritional status in Hungarian children.

BACKGROUND: Neonatal development may have an influence on post-natal nutritional status. Age at adiposity rebound is critical for later development of nutritional status. AIM: The objective was to analyse the relationship between neonatal development and post-natal changes in nutritional status. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Subjects were studied in a longitudinal national survey (1980-2001) from birth (n = 6219) to 18.0 years (n = 1448). Subjects were divided into small (SGA), appropriate (AGA) and large for gestational age (LGA) sub-groups. Nutritional status was assessed by BMI. The Reed-Asefa model was fitted to the subject's serial data of BMI. RESULTS: The body parameters of the neonatal developmental sub-groups differed significantly in all studied neonatal body dimensions: the higher the intra-uterine growth rate (the slowest growth rate was assumed in the SGA, the fastest in the LGA children), the heavier the body weight, the longer the length and the bigger the BMI values found. The nutritional status of the neonatal developmental sub-groups differed significantly during the studied post-natal interval: the higher the pre-natal growth rate, the better nutritional status (the larger BMI) was found after birth. CONCLUSIONS: Neonatal development influenced strongly the post-natal nutritional status of children. The results indicate that not only age at adiposity rebound but also neonatal developmental status can be used as an indicator of later obesity.

[The effect of intrauterine development and nutritional status on intrauterine and neonatal mortality]. / A magzat méhen belüli fejlettségének és tápláltságának hatása az intrauterin és újszülött-halálozásra.

The authors study to what extent bodily development and nutritional status influence the viability of foetuses and neonates, that is, their perinatal mortality. They developed a new method, the MDN system (MDN: Maturity, Development, Nutritional status) to determine the weight and length standard positions of neonates in relation to reference standards on the basis of their gestational ages, birth weights and lengths. The system contains a chessboard-like matrix (or MDN Table) comprising 64 cells arranged in eight horizontal lines of the most common zones of weight percentile standards and eight vertical columns of the length percentile standards. Depending upon its weight and length, each neonate can be positioned in one of the cells of the MDN Table. The table allows differentiating the major neonate groups with significantly different developmental and nutritional statuses. The authors used a computerised program to process in one MDN table the data of 680,947 neonates born in the 7 five years from 1997 to 2003 in Hungary. When the ratio of body length and weight was considered, 90.6% of this neonate population was found normally (proportionally) nourished. 4.9% of the population was relatively over-nourished, while 4.5% was relatively undernourished. Then, the authors computed the intrauterine and neonatal mortality rate of the newborns in each cell of the MDN Table. Intrauterine (neonatal) mortality rate in the neonate group with an absolute average development was 3,6 per thousand (4,4 per thousand), that in the proportionally retarded group under weight and length percentiles 10 was 21 per thousand (14 per thousand). This rate was 41 per thousand (24 per thousand) under weight and length percentiles 3. The mortality rate was 51 per thousand (49 per thousand) in the extremely overnourished group and 124 per thousand (78 per thousand) in the extremely undernourished group. The authors believe that the MDN system including the MDN table is a suitable method to differentiate the most endangered groups of neonates on the basis of their development and nutritional status.

Socioeconomic determinants of anthropometric trends among Hungarian youth.

The increase of physical stature in the developed countries and their socio-economic correlates has been well documented for nearly two centuries. In this study, the secular changes in height, weight and the BMI of Hungarian university students and conscripts are analyzed for the years 1933-1998. During the first half of this period these body measurements changed little, while in the second half the rates of change accelerated rapidly: height increased by 1.7 cm among males and 1.8 cm among female university students per decade, and 1.8 cm among male conscripts. Differences were found according to the place of birth and residence as well as parental occupation and educational level.

The effect of intrauterine development and nutritional status on perinatal mortality.

OBJECTIVE: To study the influence of bodily development and nutritional status on perinatal mortality. METHODS: The authors developed a new method, the MDN system (MDN: Maturity, Development, Nutritional Status), to determine the development and nutritional status of newborns based on their weight and length standard positions. Using data of 680,947 neonates born in the 7 years from 1997 to 2003 in Hungary, they computed the perinatal mortality (PM) rate of each developmental groups of neonates. RESULTS: PM in the group of neonates of absolute average development was 7 per thousand, 30 per thousand in the proportionally retarded group and it was 90 per thousand in the extremely overnourished group. The PM rate was the highest (191 per thousand) in the extremely undernourished group. CONCLUSIONS: Both bodily development and nourishment have a major impact on PM. The MDN system is a suitable method to differentiate the most endangered groups of neonates based on their development and nutritional status.