Physical growth and development and nutritional status: epidemiological considerations

The analysis of growth and development provides the researcher with a valuable tool with which to study the nutritional status of populations. Studies of the growth of children from a 1-year birth cohort from a southern Mexican village indicate that growth is an acceptable indicator of chronic protein-energy malnutrition (PEM). Furthermore, analysis of the body size of the parents of the children with chronic PEM indicates that the parents themselves were most likely chronically malnourished during their development. The linear and lateral dimensions of parents, but not the measures of their body composition, may be acceptable indicators of the risk of malnutrition in their children, based on the analysis of sensitivity and specificity.