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A new international growth reference for young children
1Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and the Nutrition Programme, World Health Organization, Geneva.
Insights
The World Health Organization (WHO) is developing a new international growth reference for children up to 5 years old. This updated standard aims to better reflect optimal infant growth, addressing limitations of the current reference.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Public Health
- Anthropometry
Background:
- Current international growth references for infants are inadequate for assessing physiologic growth.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) identified limitations in existing anthropometric data interpretation.
- A need exists for an updated growth standard reflecting optimal child development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a new international anthropometric reference for children from birth to 5 years of age.
- To establish a growth standard that accurately represents optimal growth in young children.
- To provide a reliable tool for public health and clinical use.
Main Methods:
- Data collection via a longitudinal study of breast-fed infants (birth to 1 year).
- Data collection via a cross-sectional study of children aged 18-71 months.
- Sampling from diverse geographic locations globally.
Main Results:
- The study protocol is designed to create a single, international growth reference.
- The new reference will be based on optimal growth patterns.
- The methodology allows for future revisions based on new biological data.
Conclusions:
- A new WHO growth reference is being developed to improve child health monitoring.
- The reference will serve as a global standard for assessing optimal growth in children under 5.
- This initiative aims to enhance the accuracy and utility of anthropometric assessments.
Abstract:
Growth references for children are among the most widely used instruments in public health and clinical medicine. A comprehensive review by the World Health Organization (WHO) of the use and interpretation of anthropometric data concluded that the present international growth reference for infants does not describe physiologic growth adequately; thus, a new anthropometric reference was recommended for young children from birth to 5 y. The approach taken by the WHO for development of a new reference is guided by the principle that anthropometric reference data must always reflect the functional context of their intended uses and an awareness of the consequences of their application. The new reference will be constructed from data to be collected in a longitudinal study of infants who will be exclusively or predominantly breast-fed for >/=4 mo with continued breast-feeding throughout the first year, and a cross-sectional study of infants and young children aged 18-71 mo. The sample will be drawn from >/=7 diverse geographic sites around the world. The adopted protocol is expected to provide a single international reference that represents the best standard possible of optimal growth for all children <5 y of age. Furthermore, documentation will be sufficient to allow for possible future revision of the reference as substantial new biological information on the growth of infants and young children becomes available.