Human Growth

Growth references are statistical summaries of anthropometry, conditioned (usually) on age and sex. References describe how children do grow. Growth standards describe how children should grow. Growth charts are graphic designs. They present growth references or standards as visual displays for clinical assessments. Centiles denominate how many percent of all children are shorter or taller, or lighter or heavier than a particular child. Centiles are not equally spaced. The central centiles (around the median) are closer together than the outer centiles. The LMS method provides growth tables that are corrected for skewness in the data distribution. Serial measurements of standard deviation scores (SDS) are equivalent to plotting growth velocity. Synthetic growth references are practicable and less demanding alternatives and they show excellent statistical agreement with growth charts that were constructed by conventional methods.

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Growth, measuring

Hermanussen¹

2018

The International Encyclopedia of Biological Anthropology

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Infant body length is usually determined in supine position by infantometer, body height is determined in standing position by stadiometer, or freely standing by anthropometer. Body proportions are commonly assessed by sitting height, leg length, arm span, and should also include an estimate of skeletal shape. Assessing developmental tempo can be done by skeletal maturity, state of pubertal maturity, and multiple records of height standard deviation score (SDS). Cross‐sectional data on height, weight, circumferences, and signs of maturity can be used as a reference to compare an individual's height and growth pattern with their peer group. Longitudinal data are serial data of the same individual. The measurement of growth at short intervals (short‐term growth) either requires measurements at high accuracy (e.g. knemometry), or very frequent measurements. Very frequent (daily) home‐made measurements can be obtained by nonprofessional personnel, even by parents, and are ideal for determining growth patterns under field conditions.

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Human Growth

Cited by 107 publications

References 942 publications

The Ages of Man and Their Dermatoses

The Ages of Man and Their Dermatoses

Growth references and standards

Growth, measuring

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