Related Experiment Videos
Construction of growth reference standards for urban slum children in developing countries
1Department of Pediatrics and Biostatistics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
Insights
This study developed new weight and height reference standards for Indian children aged 1-10 years from Delhi slums. These standards, derived from the upper 25% of the sample, better reflect local growth patterns for nutrition monitoring and early detection of growth abnormalities.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Nutrition
- Anthropometry
- Public Health
Background:
- Accurate growth monitoring is crucial for child health.
- Existing growth standards may not fully represent diverse populations like urban Indian children.
- Need for localized reference data for effective public health interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To establish localized weight and height reference standards for children aged 1-10 years in urban Delhi slums.
- To compare these new standards with established National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) standards.
- To assess the utility of these standards for nutrition programs and early detection of growth deviations.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study of 2987 children (1-10 years) from urban slums in Delhi.
- Measurement of weight and height for all participants.
- Analysis of data using percentiles and comparison with NCHS and ICMR standards.
- Construction of reference standards using the upper 25% of the sample.
Main Results:
- The 75th percentile weight and height of the study sample were comparable to 80% and 90% of the 50th percentile of NCHS standards, respectively.
- The newly constructed 50th percentile standards corresponded to 80% of NCHS 50th percentile for weight and 90% for height.
- The developed standards align with ICMR standards for weight and height in both sexes.
Conclusions:
- The derived reference standards provide a more accurate representation of growth for children in urban Indian slums.
- These localized standards are suitable for monitoring nutrition programs.
- The standards will aid in the early identification of children with abnormal growth patterns.
Abstract:
A cross-sectional sample of 2987 children in the age group of 1 to 10 years were selected from urban slums of Delhi for measurement of weight and height. Males and females were 53 and 47% respectively. Mean weight and height were calculated for both the sexes. Comparison of percentiles of weight and height with NCHS and ICMR standards showed that the 75th percentiles weight and height of the present study were comparable with 80 and 90% of 50th percentile of NCHS respectively. Hence, upper 25% of the sample arranged in ascending order of magnitude were used for the construction of reference standards of weight and height. Comparison of percentiles drawn from the top 25% of the sample demonstrated that 50th percentile of the present study corresponded to 80% of 50th percentile of the NCHS for weight and 90% of 50th percentile of NCHS of the height for both boys and girls. Also the 50th percentile of ICMR for weight and height for both the sexes. Standards constructed from such sample would be better suited for two important uses: (i) monitoring of Nutrition Programme, and (ii) to detect a child with abnormal growth at the earliest.