Clinical growth charts for pre-school children

Growth standards are indicators for normal growth of the children and growth charts are important tools for their growth monitoring. Children from different populations are different in their growth pattern, it is important to create national standards for the growth of children in each population to develop local growth charts, and since these were not available in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [KSA], the aim of this study was to construct national growth standards and to develop growth charts for 0-5-years Saudi children. A cross-sectional study following World Health Organization [WHO] criteria in determining sample size was adopted, where by 24000 children from 5 regions in the KSA were selected during the period 1992 to 1995 to be the desired sample. One hundred and two Primary Health Care centers [PHCCs] were selected randomly from the 5 regions, from where the sample was drawn, and a special questionnaire was designed. Weight, height and head circumference were measured by standard procedures. The total number of children examined was 23821 [11913 boys and 11908 girls]. Saudi [0-5-years] boys weight and height for age measurements were significantly different from girls. The same difference was found between urban and rural boys and girls and between boys and girls from the different regions of the country [p<0.05]. These national standards derived from this study were used to develop national growth charts that are currently utilized to monitor growth in all Saudi health institutes

Comparison of the growth standards between Saudi and American children aged 0-5 years

To compare the national growth monitoring data with the National Centre for Health Statistics [NCHS] growth standards, which is currently used in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [KSA]. A cross sectional study following World Health Organization criteria in determining sample size was adopted, whereby 24,000 children from 5 regions were selected to be the desired sample. One hundred and two Primary Health Care centers were also selected randomly from the 5 regions, from where the sample was drawn. A special questionnaire was designed for the data collection. A pilot study was carried out to test the study instruments. Weight, height and head circumference were measured by standard procedures. This data was compared with the National Centre for Health Statistics [NCHS] data. The total number of children examined was 23,821, 11,913 boys and 11,908 girls, they were drawn from 102 health centers selected randomly. Comparing different percentiles for Saudi and NCHS data, there was a significant difference between the Saudi and American children. In order to ensure a correct follow up for our children in KSA, the national figures are more appropriate to follow than the NCHS data