|
|
|
|
Surveys of the prevalence of poor growth (how common it is in a population) use measures of children's growth at the time of the survey. They use attained growth in length, weight, weight-for-length, or combinations of those measures. For an individual child, it is important to consider growth faltering or slowed growth velocity. A commonly used criterion for growth faltering is that the child has dropped across two major percentile lines on the chart (for example, from the 75th to the 25th percentile) over the course of a few or several months. Another criterion for growth faltering is that the rate of the child's growth, or growth velocity, is below the velocity in the reference data. Guo, et al (1991) report reference data on gains in weight and length during the first two years of life, based on the sample for the 1977 growth charts. Both these criteria are used in clinical practice. However, no standard definitions of these criteria have been established. The fact that a child meets criteria for poor growth does
not necessarily imply that something is wrong. Many children meeting these
criteria are growing normally. However, others have nutritional or feeding
problems or medical conditions or illnesses that impair growth. If a child
meets criteria for poor growth, further evaluation is needed.
|
