Growth pattern evaluation of the Edinburgh and Gothenburg cohorts by QEPS height model

The QEPS-growth-model, developed and validated in GrowUp-Gothenburg cohorts, used for developing growth references and investigating healthy/pathological growth, lacks external validation from other longitudinal cohorts of healthy individuals.

To investigate if the QEPS-model can fit the longitudinal Edinburgh growth study of another design than GrowUp-Gothenburg cohorts, and to compare growth patterns in the individuals born in mid-1970s in North-Western Europe.

Longitudinal growth data were obtained from the Edinburgh and the GrowUp1974Gothenburg cohorts. The QEPS-model was used to describe length/height from birth to adult height with confidence interval, and the multivariable regression model for estimating the contribution of the different QEPS-functions to adult height.

The QEPS-model fitted the Edinburgh cohort well, with high accuracy, and low confidence intervals indicating high precision. Despite 3 cm shorter stature (less QE-function growth) in Scottish children, the growth patterns of the cohorts were similar, especially for specific pubertal growth. The contribution to adult height from different QEPS functions was similar.

The QEPS-model is validated for the first time in a longitudinal study of healthy individuals of another design and found to fit with high accuracy and precision. The Scottish and Western-Swedish cohorts born in mid-1970s showed similar growth patterns for both sexes, especially pubertal growth.

For the first time, the QEPS height model was used and found to fit another longitudinal cohort of healthy individuals other than the Swedish longitudinal cohorts. With large numbers of individual measurements in each growth phase, the QEPS model calculates growth estimates with narrow confidence intervals (high precision) and high accuracy. The two different cohorts born in the mid-1970s from Scotland and Western Sweden have similar growth patterns, despite a 3 cm difference in adult height.