The relationship between selected socioeconomic factors and basic anthropometric parameters of school-aged children and adolescents in Poland.

UNLABELLED: The aim of the present paper was to examine the associations between anthropometric parameters, overweight, obesity, and socioeconomic status (SES) of children and adolescents in Poland. Data were collected in the "Elaboration of reference blood pressure ranges for children and adolescents in Poland" OLAF-PL0080 (OLAF) study, a nationally representative survey on growth and blood pressure references for children and adolescents aged 7-18 years. Body height, weight, and waist circumference (WC) were measured, and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Anthropometric parameters were standardized for age and gender and expressed as z-scores. Statistical analyses were conducted on 10,950 children and adolescents whose parents provided socioeconomic questionnaires. The associations between anthropometric parameters, overweight (including obesity), and SES were analyzed using multiple regression and multiple logistic regression. The height was positively associated with higher levels of maternal education and, in the case of girls, also with paternal education. Higher level of income per capita, but not the highest, was associated with higher weight, BMI, and WC and, in the case of boys, also tall stature. The height, weight, BMI, and waist were significantly inversely associated with number of children in the family. Lower number of children in the family and higher level of income, but not the highest, increased odds of overweight and obesity. In the case of girls, the odds of obesity decreased with paternal higher level of education. CONCLUSION: The social position associated with parents' education, better environment, and SES correlate with body height and weight of a child. However, it is associated with higher risk of overweight and abdominal obesity.

Polish 2012 growth references for preschool children.

UNLABELLED: Growth references are useful in monitoring a child's growth, which is an essential part of child care. The aim of this paper is to provide updated growth references for Polish preschool children and to assess how well children in Poland match or diverge from the World Health Organization (WHO) growth standards/references and recent German height-for-age references. The height-, weight-, body mass index-for-age, and weight-for-height references were constructed with the LMS method using data from a recent, large, population-representative sample of 4,941 preschool children aged 3 to 6 years (the OLA study). In the case of boys, the third, 50th, and 97th height percentiles of new Polish and German references overlap almost completely, whereas the WHO growth standards/references percentiles are systematically lower. In the case of girls, comparison between the new Polish and German height references showed conformity on the third and 50th percentile, whereas body height values of the WHO standards/references are shorter. Polish children aged 3 to 6 years from for the nation representative sample, had significantly greater than zero mean z scores of height-, weight-, and BMI-for-age and weight-for-height, relative to the WHO growth standards/references. The number of children in the sample with height-for-age below -2 SD was significantly lower than expected and number of children with height-for-age above +2 SD was significantly higher than expected. CONCLUSION: The OLA study growth references can be recommended as national references for preschool children in Poland.

Population-based centile curves for triceps, subscapular, and abdominal skinfold thicknesses in Polish children and adolescents--the OLAF study.

UNLABELLED: Skinfold thicknesses are used as valid anthropometric indicators of regional body fatness. Actual population-based values for skinfold thicknesses for Polish children are not available. The purpose of this study was to provide population-based values for triceps, subscapular, and abdominal skinfold thicknesses in healthy children and adolescents. A total number of 17,416 boys and girls aged 6.5-18.5 years, randomly selected from whole Polish population of children and adolescents, were enrolled in the study. Skinfold thicknesses (triceps, subscapular, and abdominal) were measured using Harpenden skinfold caliper. All measurements were taken after the training of participating investigators. The LMS method was used to fit percentile curves across age for each skinfold. Q tests for fit were used to assess the global goodness of fit of our final models. The study shows for the first time smoothed population-based values of body fat distribution indices for Polish children and adolescents 7-18 years of age. Reported skinfold centiles are higher compared to previously established for Warsaw children and very close to the actual US data. CONCLUSION: Our study provided for the first time population-based values for skinfold thicknesses evaluation in a way allowing to calculate reliable Z scores. The early detection of abnormal fat stores, using our population-based values and respective Z scores, may be now implemented for practice.

The height-, weight-, and BMI-for-age of Polish school-aged children and adolescents relative to international and local growth references.

BACKGROUND: The growth of children is an indicator of health and society's wellbeing. Growth references are useful in monitoring a child's growth, which is a very important part of child care. Poland's growth references are not updated regularly. Although several growth reference ranges have been developed in Poland over recent years, sampling was restricted to urban populations of major cities. The aim of this study was to assess how well Polish children match with, or diverge from, regional charts and to compare them with international growth references. METHODS: Four Polish and two international (WHO 2007 and USCDC2000) growth references were used to calculate the height, weight and BMI z-scores in a recent, large, population-representative sample of school-aged children and adolescents in Poland. The distributions of z-scores were analysed with descriptive and inferential statistical methods. RESULTS: Mean height z-scores calculated with the use of the WHO 2007 and USCDC2000 references were positive and significantly different from zero over the entire age range. The mean height z-score was closest to zero in the Poznan reference for boys (0.05) and Warszawa reference for girls (0.01). Median weight z-scores were positive under all weight references over the entire age range with only the exception of 18-year-old girls' weight z-score calculated relative to USCDC2000. Median BMI z-scores were positive in males in early childhood, decreasing with age. In the case of girls, the median BMI z-score calculated using WHO 2007 and USCDC2000 was close to zero in early childhood, decreased in adolescents and reached minimum values at age 18 years. Median BMI z-scores calculated with the use of the Lodz reference fluctuated between 0.05 and 0.2 over the studied age range. CONCLUSIONS: In this contemporary sample of Polish school-aged children, distributions of height, weight and BMI differed from those of children from the international growth references. These differences should be considered when using the references. There exist certain limitations to the analysis of height, weight, and BMI z-scores when Polish regional references are used.

[Assessment of the physical development in children with short bowel syndrome based on selected anthropometric parameters]. / Ocena rozwoju fizycznego dzieci z zespolem krótkiego jelita na podstawie wybranych parametrow antropometrycznych.

INTRODUCTION: Short bowel syndrome (SBS) results from partial surgical resection of small bowel and requires parenteral nutrition. Aim of the study was to assess physical development and nutrition status of children with SBS. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study sample included 176 patients (56 girls and 120 boys) aged from 3 to 10 years. All measured anthropometric parameters were standardized for gender using the Polish body height, weight, head and chest circumference reference charts. All measurements were taken in the Division of Anthropology in Children's Memorial Health Institute according to the standard technique. z-scores were calculated. RESULTS: The statistically significant differences between children with SBS and healthy population in anthropometric features were found. CONCLUSIONS: Physical development of children with SBS is slower than in their healthy peers. The differences were particularly evident among boys. Periodic anthropologic assessment is useful in adjusting energy intake to the individual needs.