Growth of children in two economically diverse Peruvian high‐altitude communities

Abstract

The growth of children living in two high-altitude communities associated with an active copper mine in southern Peru was examined. In the community directly associated with mining operations, nutritional and health conditions were believed to be relatively favorable as a result of the substantial mine-related infrastructure that had developed over the previous 12 years. In contrast, few such benefits were available in the other community, which provides limited part-time labor at the mine. Anthropometric data, including measurements of height, weight, skinfold thicknesses, upper arm circumference, and chest dimensions, and determination of bone age, were collected from a total of 880 children between the ages of 4 and 18 years. There were significant differences between the two communities, with those in the mining community exhibiting significantly greater height and weight, a higher level of body fat, and more rapid skeletal development. Among children over the age of 12 years, a plateau in height was seen, suggesting that the benefits to growth resulting from mining-related development were more noticeable in younger children. Compared with Peruvian high-altitude populations examined during the 1960s, both samples from the present study were substantially taller and heavier, suggesting that despite local differences in socioeconomic conditions between the communities studied, overall conditions for growth are generally more favorable than those that existed among Peruvian high-altitude populations surveyed in the 1960s.

Valoración del crecimiento físico por medio de la proporcionalidad corporal en escolares peruanos que viven a moderada altitude

“…The absolute values for body weight and height increased with age in both genders until 12 years of age, similarly to other international studies at sea level 19,20 and including at high altitudes 5,7 , in which an increasing growth is observed as age advances; in turn, girls presented higher body weight and slightly higher height than boys in all age groups. As for Phantom Z-scores, results showed negative values for both genders and also revealed a trend of increase in weight as age advances, in which girls had higher body weight than boys from 6 to 12 years of age.…”

“…Therefore, its importance resides in differentiating specific groups 8 , which helps to predict immediately the possibility of success in several sports and to analyze of similarities and differences between athletes 9 and non-athletes; additionally, the unisex Phantom model is an ambitious attempt to compare the growth of the dimension of body segments, both within a population and between populations 10 , which would enable to determine maturity capability in function of an arbitrary adult height. On the other hand, some studies pointed out that environmental conditions influence the development of body proportions of children and adolescents living under stressful hypoxic conditions [5][6][7] . Such studies used reference standards that usually assess weight and height.…”

“…Thus, several studies have been developed in high-altitude regions [5][6][7] , for which WHO and NCHS reference standards were used to analyze physical growth in children and adolescents.…”

DIAGNOSIS OF ENDOCRINE DISEASE: On the need for national-, racial-, or ethnic-specific standards for the assessment of bone maturation

“…The bone maturation of children living in highaltitude communities associated with an active copper mine in southern Peru showed strong association with the altitude and nutrition (Table 1) (15). In the Tintaya community, nutritional and health conditions were believed to be relatively favorable as a result of the substantial mine-related infrastructure that had developed.…”

Weight, height and body mass index of children and adolescents living at moderate altitude in Colombia

“…As a matter of fact, altitude is an important variable that plays a major role in the study of PG, which has been widely surveyed in different research efforts. 5,6 Some studies conducted at moderate altitude have evidenced the existence of significant differences in the PG patterns of children and adolescents. 7 This information suggests the influence of population-specific environmental, cultural and genetic differences; hence, the weight, height and BMI of children and adolescents at moderate altitude in Bogotá (Colombia) are likely to differ from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2012 reference data (CDC-2012) and other South America regional standards.…”