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Cephalic measures in normal pre-school children 3 to 7-years of age
Insights
This study established a new cephalic index (nCI) for children aged 3-7 years. The nCI shows no significant differences between age or sex, with a normal range of 0.848-1.002.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Neurology
- Anthropometry
Background:
- Standardizing the Developmental Neurological Examination (DNE) requires normative data.
- Head measurements are part of neurological assessments in children.
- Previous cephalic indices may not adequately detect subtle head shape changes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To establish normative standards for head measurements in children.
- To introduce and validate a new cephalic index (nCI) for detecting head shape abnormalities.
- To determine the normal range for the nCI in preschool-aged children.
Main Methods:
- Examined 200 children (3-7 years old) selected from a larger cohort.
- Recorded cephalic perimeter, biauricular, and antero-posterior head distances.
- Calculated a new cephalic index (nCI) and analyzed data using the Kruskal-Wallis test.
Main Results:
- The new cephalic index (nCI) showed no significant differences across age groups or sexes.
- A tolerance region for the nCI was determined to be 0.848-1.002.
- This interval is expected to cover 90% of the population (3-7 years) with 95% confidence.
Conclusions:
- The new cephalic index (nCI) provides a reliable measure for head shape assessment in children.
- The established nCI range can aid in identifying precocious craniostenosis.
- Normative data for the nCI supports standardization of pediatric neurological examinations.
Abstract:
In a study designed to determine standards for the Developmental Neurological Examination (DNE) several measures of the head were also recorded. The study consisted in the examination of 200 children, half from each sex, 40 from each age group (3 to 7-years of age). These children were selected among 755 normal pre-school-age children, living in the city of São Paulo, Brazil). The criteria for selection were both anamnestic and clinic. The following measures of the head were recorded: cephalic perimeter, biauricular and antero-posterior distances (Diament, 1967). A new cephalic index (nCI) was also determined (Diament, 1968). This index is useful in detecting changes in head shape mainly in cases of precocious cranioestenosis (Diament, 1968; Facure, 1972). The statistical analysis consisted in determining means and standard errors for each measure. For the new cephalic index it was shown through the Kruskal-Wallis test that there were no significant difference between age and sex. Therefore we considered all groups together to find out the tolerance region for the new index which turned out to be given by the interval: 0.848-1.002. This result is based in 186 cases since 14 were excluded because of some problems in the recording process. Therefore we expect with a conficence of 95% that the above interval covers 90% of the population, in the 3 to 7 years age-groups independently of sex.