Longitudinal reference standard for growth velocity of infants in Shiraz, Iran

Abstract EN

Growth velocity standard is an efficient tool for monitoring child growth.

The purpose of this paper is to present longitudinal growth velocity reference standards of a cohort of 317 infants (164 girls and 153 boys) born in Shiraz (Southern Iran) in 1996 and followed for two years from birth.

The results showed that the velocity charts for the five anthropometric measurements (height, weight, arm, head and chest circumferences) fell down rapidly from 2 weeks to 7 months of age and decreased mildly later on for both sexes.

Boy's growth velocity was higher than girls in the first months of ages but no significant difference was seen later on.

However, girl's growth velocity centiles lie below boys.

Variations in growth velocity of height and weight of Iranian infants were more than their counterparts in England.

Also, the 3rd centile of British infants was consistently above our standard.

But, this finding was not consistent for the rest centiles the paper concludes that local velocity reference standards should be used in Iran.

Also, growth velocity charts were found to be sensitive and fast in diagnosing infant's failure to thrive.

While growth charts display attained growth of a subject from birth to a certain age, they cannot predict growth trend and status in time intervals in longitudinal studies due to high serial correlations of the measurement at different occasions.

The latter was achieved by using growth velocity charts in which velocity measurement are substantially less affected by serial correlations.

Therefore, the two kinds of charts are found to be complementary in monitoring child growth.