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Chinese Preschool Children Growth Reference Standard and Related Curve: Based on GAMLSS Approach
Sanhua Zhang1, Chongmin Jiang2, Chunjing Tu3
1College of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.
Insights
Updated growth standards for Chinese preschool children were developed using 2010-2014 data. These new percentile curves and Z-score charts offer improved tools for monitoring child development and addressing malnutrition and obesity.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Public Health
- Biostatistics
Background:
- The 2003 Chinese national growth standard for preschool children is outdated and lacks scientific rigor.
- There is a critical need for updated, scientific growth reference standards for effective child health assessment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To construct a more accurate and scientific growth reference standard for Chinese preschool children.
- To develop percentile and Z-score curves for key physical indicators.
Main Methods:
- Utilized physical and health data from 31 Chinese provinces collected in 2010 and 2014.
- Employed the Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape (GAMLSS) model to create growth references.
Main Results:
- Developed growth reference standards, including percentile and Z-score curves, for height, sitting height, weight, and chest circumference-for-age.
- Observed a consistent increasing trend in the 50th percentile (C50) for all indicators between ages 3.0 and 6.5.
- Quantified significant increases in height, sitting height, weight, and chest circumference for both boys and girls.
Conclusions:
- The new growth charts serve as vital tools for monitoring and personalized evaluation of preschool children's growth and development.
- These standards can aid in reducing malnutrition and preventing/controlling childhood obesity.
- Recommended for application in child health, medical treatment, and public health initiatives.
Background:
The current national growth and development standard of preschool children in China was formulated in 2003, which has many deficiencies. It is necessary to construct more scientific percentile curve and growth reference standards in order to evaluate more effectively the growth, development and health status of Chinese children.
Methods:
Based on the physical and health data of 31 provinces in China measured in 2010 and 2014, the GAMLSS model was used to construct the growth reference standard and correlation curve.
Results:
We obtained growth reference standards for percentile curve and Z-score curve of height-for-age, sitting height-for-age, Weight-for-age, Chest circumference-for-age of Chinese preschool children. The C50 percentile of all indicators showed an obvious increasing trend with aged 3.0 to 6.5. Such as, the height of boys and girls increased by 21.1cm and 20.3cm respectively, the sitting height boys and girls increased by 10.3cm and 10.1cm respectively, the weight of boys and girls increased by 7.1 kg and 6.3 kg respectively, the Chest circumference of boys and girls increased by 6cm and 5.2 cm respectively.
Conclusion:
The children's growth and development charts provided in this study provide effective monitoring and personalized evaluation tools for the growth and development assessment of preschool children, as well as for the reduction of malnutrition, prevention and control of childhood obesity. It is recommended to be used in some areas such as child health, medical treatment and public health.
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