[Secular growth changes. Weight, height and body mass index values in infant, children, adolescent and young adults from Barcelona population]. / Aceleración secular del crecimiento. Valores de peso, talla e índice de masa corporal en niños, adolescentes y adultos jóvenes de la población de Barcelona.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: A secular trend in growth has been reported in developed countries. Our aim was to evaluate weight, height and body mass index values in a middle class sample of people from Barcelona and compare these values with those obtained before 1987. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Height, weight and body mass index were evaluated in a) 268 male and 243 female newborns from normal gestations of 40 weeks, born in 2001 and 2002; b) 158 boys and 146 girls born during 1998-2000 and evaluated every 0.25-0.50 years from 0.25 to 3 years of age; c) 2,781 boys and 2,476 girls, aged 3-18 years, evaluated in 2002 and 2003, and distributed in 0.5 year intervals, and d) 394 males and 364 females, aged 18-24 years, evaluated in 2002 and 2003. RESULTS: Mean, standard deviation and percentiles values with 0.25-0.5 year-period intervals from birth to adulthood are reported. In comparison with data obtained before 1987 in Spanish populations, an increase of 3.5 cm was observed in adult height in both sexes as well as an increase of 7-8.3 kg in percentiles 3, 50 and 97 values in male adult weight with no significant differences in female adult weight. Moreover, pubertal growth spurt begins one year earlier in both boys and girls. Age of menarche (12.78 [1.30] years) was similar in our adult female population and in the female population evaluated before 1987. CONCLUSIONS: A secular trend in growth was observed in our population. There is a need to update periodically the growth data used in the evaluation of children and adolescents.

Fetal growth regulation and intrauterine growth retardation.

Gestational age and neonatal anthropometric parameters are currently used to evaluate fetal growth and are predictive factors of perinatal and postnatal morbidity and mortality. We performed a retrospective analysis of neonatal anthropometric parameters (weight, vertex-heel length and head circumference) in 1,470 live preterm neonates born between 1997 and 2002 and a prospective analysis of the same parameters in 1,786 live newborns of both sexes born in 2001 and 2002, products of single 37-42 week uncomplicated pregnancies in healthy Spanish Caucasian mothers. A progressive increase in these parameters with gestational age and sexual dimorphism were observed from the 30th week of gestational age onwards, with statistically-significant differences (p<0.05) at 38-42 weeks of gestational age. An increase in weight and length values in relation to previous Spanish studies was also documented in preterm newborns. It is estimated that 10-15% of children born small for gestational age (SGA) do not experience catch-up growth by the age of 3 years and may have short stature in adulthood. Preliminary data of a cross-sectional study on spontaneous growth in boys and girls born SGA without postnatal catch-up growth show that their +2 SD values of height are similar to -2 SD values of our normal control population of children born with adequate weight and length for gestational age (AGE). However, weight +2 SD values are similar to mean values of control children born AGE. In summary, our data show sexual dimorphism in neonatal anthropometric growth parameters and that these parameters change with time and may be updated. In addition children born SGA without postnatal catch-up are shorter and have higher weight than age-, height- and sex-matched controls born AGE.