A longitudinal study of growth patterns in schoolchildren in one Taipei District. II: Sitting height, arm span, body mass index and skinfold thickness.

BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that longitudinal rather than cross-sectional growth standards be used to assess individual growth patterns. Thus, the aim of this study was to follow boys and girls throughout their pubertal years, so that a mixed longitudinal growth curve of height, weight, sitting height, arm span, skinfold thickness, body mass index (BMI), and the ratio of sitting height or arm span to stature, could be obtained. METHODS: A defined group of 1,139 healthy schoolchildren (570 boys and 569 girls) from the Shih-Pai district of Taipei were followed longitudinally for 4 years. Anthropometric measurements of height, weight, sitting height, arm span, skinfold thickness, and BMI, were obtained for each child. RESULTS: Peak sitting-height velocities of 6.1 cm/year (boys) and 6.3 cm/year (girls) were seen at 8.5 years. The second peak of sitting-height velocity occurred at a mean age of 12.5 years for boys and 11.5 years for girls. Sitting-height velocity for the whole year covering the second peak was 4.6 cm in boys and 3.2 cm in girls. Peak arm-span velocity was seen at 13.5 years for boys and 8.5 years for girls, and arm-span velocity for the whole year covering this peak was 8.4 cm/year for boys and 8.1 cm/year for girls. CONCLUSION: These data provide growth patterns for Chinese children aged 8-18 years living in a Taipei district, with percentile charts for sitting height, arm span, BMI, and skinfold thickness.

A longitudinal study of growth patterns in school children in Taipei area I: growth curve and height velocity curve.

BACKGROUND: It has been pointed out that longitudinal rather than cross-sectional growth standards should be used to assess individual linear growth. The purpose of this study is to investigate the growth characteristics of school boys and girls living in Shih-Pai district in Taipei. METHODS: A defined group of 1,139 healthy school children (570 boys and 569 girls) from the Shih-Pai district of Taipei city were followed longitudinally for 3 to 4 years. Anthropometric measurement of height and weight and physical development in each child were obtained. The annual increments were calculated every 6 months to map the peak height velocity (PHV), height velocity curve (HVC), peak weight velocity (PWV) and weight velocity curve (WVC). RESULTS: The age at peak velocity was taken as 12.5 years for boys and 10.5 years for girls, and the whole year PHV as 8.0 cm/yr in boys and 7.0 cm/yr in girls. The mean PHV was less than 1 cm in boys and girls of about 17 years and 15 years, respectively, with mean heights of 170.8 cm and 158.7 cm, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary results were actually calculated from the combination of longitudinal data and cross-sectional data pools. Since this is only a pilot study design, we expect that a longer follow-up period of the same cohorts would give more exact growth characteristics.