Objective:This study aimed to integrate the existing updated reference standards for the growth of Turkish infants and children and to compare these values with World Health Organization (WHO) reference data, data from some European countries, and also with previous local data. Weight, height, and head circumference measurements were obtained on 2,391 boys and 2,102 girls who were regular attenders of a well child clinic and on 1,100 boys and 1,020 girls attending schools in relatively well-off districts in İstanbul. Mean number of measurements per child was 8.2±3.6 in the age group 0-5 years and 5.5±3.3 in the age group 6-18 years. All children were from well-to-do families and all were healthy. All measurements with the exception of measurements at birth, which were based on reported values, were done by trained personnel.Methods:The LMS method was used in the analyses and in the construction of the percentile charts. There is an increase in weight for age and body mass index values for age starting in prepubertal ages, indicating an increasing trend for obesity.Results: Compared to WHO reference data, weight and height values in Turkish children were slightly higher in infants and in children younger than 5 years, while they showed similarity to those reported for children from Norway and Belgium. Head circumference values, which were slightly higher than the WHO references in the first 5 years, were comparable to the data on Belgian and Norwegian children in the first 9 years of life. At older ages, Turkish children showed higher values for head circumference.Conclusion:The relatively larger head circumference values were interpreted to reflect a genetic characteristic.

The direct involvement of the human leukocyte antigen class II DR-DQ genes in type 1 diabetes (T1D) is well established, and these genes display a complex hierarchy of risk effects at the genotype and haplotype levels. We investigated, using data from 38 studies, whether the DR-DQ haplotypes and genotypes show the same relative predispositional effects across populations and ethnic groups. Significant differences in risk within a population were considered, as well as comparisons across populations using the patient/control (P/C) ratio. Within a population, the ratio of the P/C ratios for two different genotypes or haplotypes is a function only of the absolute penetrance values, allowing ranking of risk effects. Categories of consistent predisposing, intermediate ('neutral'), and protective haplotypes were identified and found to correlate with disease prevalence and the marked ethnic differences in DRB1-DQB1 frequencies. Specific effects were identified, for example for predisposing haplotypes, there was a statistically significant and consistent hierarchy for DR4 DQB1*0302s: DRB1*0405 ¼ *0401 ¼ *0402 > *0404 > *0403, with DRB1*0301 DQB1*0200 (DR3) being significantly less predisposing than DRB1*0402 and more than DRB1*0404. The predisposing DRB1*0401 DQB1*0302 haplotype was relatively increased compared with the protective haplotype DRB1*0401 DQB1*0301 in heterozygotes with DR3 compared with heterozygotes with DRB1*0101 DQB1*0501 (DR1). Our results show that metaanalyses and use of the P/C ratio and rankings thereof can be valuable in determining T1D risk factors at the haplotype and amino acid residue levels.

These results indicate that height growth in Turkish school-age children of high socio-economic level conforms to the updated growth data on US children. The data also show a secular upward trend in Turkey. Weight-for-age values indicate an increase in obesity. The results also point to the value of collecting and evaluating local growth data periodically.

This study presents data and curves for body mass index values in healthy Turkish children aged 6 to 18 y. The values are in compliance with those of Western countries.