Factors associated with growth patterns from birth to 18 months in a Beninese cohort of children

Somatic growth from birth to 6 months in low birth weight, in Bukavu, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo

“…This observation was confirmed by a meta-analysis in 16 countries in subSaharan Africa [54]. Several hypotheses have been put forward to explain this growth differential between girls and boys: Medhin et al [40] in Ethiopia and Padonou et al [55] in Benin reported the high prevalence of anemia among boys in their study populations to explain their poor growth. Well [56], on the other hand, referred to the hypothesis that genetic factors could explain the relative vulnerability of boys to girls.…”

Linear growth trajectories in Zimbabwean infants

“…Multicountry analyses have also shown a reduction in risk of stunting (RR: 0.968; 95% CI: 0.967, 0.968) (41) and gains in height-for-age z scores (β: 0.037; 95% CI: 0.033, 0.040) (40) with increasing maternal height. Associations between stunting and birth weight (15, 44) or maternal height (3, 50) have also been identified in other studies. Disparities in linear infant growth can also be explained by maternal education (13, 43, 51).…”

“…The outcome was defined as a nominal variable of LAZ trajectory-group membership and covariates were maternal education, age, midupper arm circumference, and height and infant sex, birth weight, length, and gestational age on the basis of the documented associations of these variables with linear infant growth (5, 8, 10, 13, 15, 40–45). To minimize the impact of collinearity on statistical inference, covariates were centered before model fitting.…”

Accretion of Fat-Free Mass Rather Than Fat Mass in Infancy Is Positively Associated with Linear Growth in Childhood

“…Several studies have shown that low birth weight is a risk factor for shorter height (14,15), whereas rapid weight gain during infancy has been linked to a number of health outcomes, including noncommunicable diseases in later life (1,16). However, birth weight and weight gain do not differentiate between fat and fat-free tissue during infancy (17).…”

“…However, birth weight and weight gain do not differentiate between fat and fat-free tissue during infancy (17). Although few studies have addressed the association between growth and nutrition in early infancy and linear growth longitudinally (14,15,18), the role of early infancy fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM) accretion in childhood linear growth remains unknown.…”