Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 19, 2025

Scanning Skeletal Remains for Bone Mineral Density in Forensic Contexts
07:56

Scanning Skeletal Remains for Bone Mineral Density in Forensic Contexts

Published on: January 29, 2018

18.1K

Establishing Body Mass Index growth charts for Pakistani children and adolescents using the lambda-mu-sigma (LMS) and

Muhammad Asif1, Muhammad Aslam2, Justyna Wyszyńska3

  • 1Department of Statistics, Govt. Degree College, Qadir Pur Raan Multan, Pakistan - asifmalik722@gmail.com.

Minerva Pediatrics
|June 9, 2020
PubMed

Insights

This study developed new BMI growth charts for Pakistani children aged 2-18. Results show Pakistani children have lower BMI percentiles than WHO references, indicating the WHO charts are unsuitable.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Endocrinology
  • Nutritional Science
  • Biostatistics

Background:

  • Growth and nutritional status assessment are crucial in pediatric clinical care.
  • Established BMI growth reference charts are essential for evaluating child health.
  • Existing international references may not accurately reflect local populations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To create age and gender-specific smoothed BMI growth reference charts for Pakistani children and adolescents (2-18 years).
  • To compare the derived LMS median percentile values with WHO 2007 international references and other global studies.
  • To assess the suitability of current international growth references for Pakistani children.

Main Methods:

  • A representative cross-sectional sample of 10,668 healthy Pakistani children and adolescents aged 2-18 years was analyzed.
  • Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated using measured height and weight.
  • Age and gender-specific smoothed BMI growth references were generated using lambda-mu-sigma (LMS) and quantile regression (QR) statistical methods.

Main Results:

  • Smoothed BMI percentile curves (5th-95th) showed an increase with age in both sexes, with girls exhibiting higher percentiles during puberty.
  • LMS and QR methods produced centile values with minimal variability compared to empirical centiles.
  • Pakistani children demonstrated substantially lower BMI percentiles compared to WHO 2007 and other international reference populations.

Conclusions:

  • The WHO 2007 growth references are not appropriate for Pakistani children.
  • The quantile regression (QR) method presents a viable alternative for developing localized growth charts.
  • Accurate, population-specific growth charts are necessary for precise pediatric health assessments.
Abstract

More Related Videos

Author Spotlight: Advancements in 3D Optical Imaging for Comprehensive Body Composition Assessment in Modern Research06:48

Author Spotlight: Advancements in 3D Optical Imaging for Comprehensive Body Composition Assessment in Modern Research

Published on: June 7, 2024

1.9K
Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study09:36

Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study

Published on: February 2, 2017

27.6K

Related Concept Videos

Applications of Normal Distribution01:22

Applications of Normal Distribution

The normal distribution is a useful statistical tool. One of its practical applications is determining the door height after considering the normal distribution of heights of persons, such that many can pass through it easily without striking their heads. The normal distribution can also determine the probability of a person having a height less than a specific height.
The heights of 15 to 18-year-old males from Chile from 1984 to 1985 followed a normal distribution. The mean height is 172.36...
8.7K
z Scores and Area Under the Curve01:17

z Scores and Area Under the Curve

z scores are the standardized values obtained after converting a normal distribution into a standard normal distribution. A z score is measured in units of the standard deviation. The z score tells you how many standard deviations the value x is above (to the right of) or below (to the left of) the mean, μ. Values of x that are larger than the mean have positive z scores, and values of x that are smaller than the mean have negative z scores. If x equals the mean, then x has a z score of...
17.5K
Regression Toward the Mean01:52

Regression Toward the Mean

Regression toward the mean (“RTM”) is a phenomenon in which extremely high or low values—for example, and individual’s blood pressure at a particular moment—appear closer to a group’s average upon remeasuring. Although this statistical peculiarity is the result of random error and chance, it has been problematic across various medical, scientific, financial and psychological applications. In particular, RTM, if not taken into account, can interfere when...
6.8K
Central Limit Theorem01:14

Central Limit Theorem

The central limit theorem, abbreviated as clt, is one of the most powerful and useful ideas in all of statistics. The central limit theorem for sample means says that if you repeatedly draw samples of a given size and calculate their means, and create a histogram of those means, then the resulting histogram will tend to have an approximate normal bell shape. In other words, as sample sizes increase, the distribution of means follows the normal distribution more closely.
The sample size, n, that...
19.1K
Variation: Normal Distribution, Range, and Standard Deviation02:32

Variation: Normal Distribution, Range, and Standard Deviation

In the field of psychology, there are several ways to organize measurements of a trait, feature, or characteristic (i.e., variables). Qualitative data, such as ethnicity, can be tabulated into a frequency count to provide information about the proportion, as well as the variety of groups in a sample or population. On the other hand, researchers can perform a wider set of calculations on quantitative data. The mean, mode, and median, for instance, are central tendency measures to identify a...
26.1K
Normal Distribution01:11

Normal Distribution

The normal, a continuous distribution, is the most important of all the distributions. Its graph is a bell-shaped symmetrical curve, which is observed in almost all disciplines. Some of these include psychology, business, economics, the sciences, nursing, and, of course, mathematics. Some instructors may use the normal distribution to help determine students’ grades. Most IQ scores are normally distributed. Often real-estate prices fit a normal distribution. The normal distribution is...
16.1K