Polish 2012 growth references for preschool children

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 14, 2026

Universal Screening for Prevention of Reading, Writing, and Math Disabilities in Spanish
14:43

Universal Screening for Prevention of Reading, Writing, and Math Disabilities in Spanish

Published on: July 18, 2020

Zbigniew Kułaga1, Aneta Grajda, Beata Gurzkowska

  • 1Public Health Department, Children's Memorial Health Institute, Al. Dzieci Polskich 20, 04-730 Warsaw, Poland. z.kulaga@czd.pl

European Journal of Pediatrics
|February 2, 2013
PubMed

Insights

New growth references for Polish preschool children show differences compared to WHO standards. Polish children tend to be taller and heavier than WHO references suggest, indicating a need for updated national guidelines.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatrics
  • Anthropometry
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Child growth monitoring is crucial for healthcare.
  • Existing growth references may not accurately reflect current Polish preschool children's stature.
  • International standards like WHO and German references require comparison with local data.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To establish updated, population-representative growth references for Polish preschool children (ages 3-6).
  • To compare these new references with World Health Organization (WHO) growth standards and German references.
  • To assess Polish children's growth patterns against international benchmarks.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized the LMS method for constructing height-, weight-, BMI-for-age, and weight-for-height references.
  • Employed data from the OLA study, a large, population-representative sample of 4,941 Polish children aged 3-6 years.
  • Performed statistical comparisons between new Polish references and existing WHO/German references.

Main Results:

  • New Polish and German height references for boys showed near-complete overlap, while WHO percentiles were lower.
  • Polish and German height references for girls aligned at the 3rd and 50th percentiles; WHO references indicated shorter stature.
  • Polish preschool children exhibited significantly higher mean z-scores for height, weight, and BMI relative to WHO standards.
  • The prevalence of children below -2 SD for height-for-age was lower, and above +2 SD was higher than expected compared to WHO standards.

Conclusions:

  • The OLA study provides robust, updated growth references for Polish preschool children.
  • These new references are recommended for national use in Poland.
  • Findings highlight significant divergence of Polish children's growth from WHO standards, necessitating localized reference data.
Abstract

More Related Videos

Measuring the Functional Abilities of Children Aged 3-6 Years Old with Observational Methods and Computer Tools11:29

Measuring the Functional Abilities of Children Aged 3-6 Years Old with Observational Methods and Computer Tools

Published on: June 20, 2020

Related Concept Videos

Population Growth00:57

Population Growth

Population size is dynamic, increasing with birth rates and immigration, and decreasing with death rates and emigration. In ideal conditions with unlimited resources, populations can increase exponentially, which plots as a J-shaped growth rate curve of population size against time. This type of curve is characteristic of newly-introduced invasive species, or populations that have suffered catastrophic declines and are rebounding.
Piaget's Stage 2 of Cognitive Development01:14

Piaget's Stage 2 of Cognitive Development

The preoperational stage, the second of Jean Piaget's four stages of cognitive development, spans approximately ages 2 to 7 and is characterized by the emergence of symbolic thinking. During this stage, children use language, images, and symbols to represent objects and concepts, enabling them to engage in imaginative and pretend play. This symbolic thinking supports children's ability to perform make-believe actions, such as imagining a broom as a horse or their hand as a phone, blending...
Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development01:14

Piaget's Stage 1 of Cognitive Development

The sensorimotor stage, the initial phase of Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, spans the first two years of a child's life. During this period, infants actively engage with their surroundings, building cognitive awareness through direct interaction with the world. This interaction is primarily based on sensory perception and motor actions, allowing infants to gradually understand basic physical properties and predict how objects interact within their environment.
Exploration...
Exponential Equations for Modeling Growth01:26

Exponential Equations for Modeling Growth

Exponential models are essential for describing rapid, multiplicative changes in natural systems, such as population growth. When a population doubles at regular intervals, the process can be modeled using a suitable base. For instance, a bacterial culture that doubles every three hours follows the model n(t)=n0⋅2t/3, where n(t) is the population at the time t.A more general model uses the natural base e, especially for continuous growth. This takes the form n(t)=n0⋅ert, where r is the relative...
Piaget's Stage 3 of Cognitive Development01:17

Piaget's Stage 3 of Cognitive Development

During Piaget's concrete operational stage, from ages 7 to 11, children exhibit a marked increase in logical thinking skills, specifically in relation to tangible, real-world events. This stage is characterized by the development of several essential cognitive concepts, including conservation, reversibility, and classification, all of which support the child's evolving capacity for structured thought.
Conservation and Constancy of Quantity
A significant cognitive milestone in the concrete...
Introduction to Developmental Psychology01:27

Introduction to Developmental Psychology

Developmental psychology explores the changes and continuities in human abilities throughout life, encompassing physical, cognitive, linguistic, and social dimensions. Human development is not restricted to growth, but includes aspects of decline, particularly in physical abilities as individuals age. Developmental psychologists seek to understand how people change as they age and how their mental and social skills evolve.Developmental MilestonesA key concept in developmental psychology is...