Growth curves of aboriginal children in Taiwan

The aims of the study were to establish individual percentile charts of the body height, weight and body mass index (BMI) for Taiwanese aboriginal children, aged from 7-18 years old, and to compare the growth data of aboriginal children to the data of children in Taiwan and Fukien areas collected in 2002. In total 6,720 aboriginal boys and 6,414 aboriginal girls were included in this study. Cole's LMS method was used to draw the smoothed growth charts. The results revealed that the aboriginal girls were slightly taller and heavier than the aboriginal boys during most of childhood but the aboriginal boys surpassed the aboriginal girls beginning at age 13. Growth velocity slowed down in the aboriginal girls at age 11 and in the aboriginal boys at age 14. The aboriginal boys rapidly gained weight during 7-18 years of age. The weight curves of aboriginal boys and girls had similar patterns before the age of 16. This increase in weight continued in the aboriginal boys', but it plateaued for aboriginal girls around 16 to 17 years of age and even declined at the age 18 in the 97th percentile. When comparing this data to the data from 2002, the aboriginal children demonstrated similar growth patterns as the nationwide children in the 15th, 50th, and 85th percentiles of body height, weight, and BMI respectively. The one exception was the BMI of the aboriginal boys. It was increasingly higher than the nationwide correspondents during the late teenage years. The aboriginal girls had slightly higher BMI than the nationwide girls at every age. Based on these results, developing programs aimed at preventing aboriginal boys from becoming overweight before they reach their late teenage years is suggested to administrators of health and education services.