ArticleArchives of disease in childhood2008
Are universal standards for optimal infant growth appropriate? Evidence from a Hong Kong Chinese birth cohort.
Article in Archives of disease in childhood, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Comparison of Indonesian Growth Reference Chart and World Health Organization Child Growth Standard in Detecting Stunting: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of 15,874 ChildrenJournal of clinical research in pediatric endocrinology · 2022Pooled it
- Accuracy of international growth charts to assess nutritional status in children and adolescents: a systematic review.Revista paulista de pediatria : orgao oficial da Sociedade de Pediatria de Sao Paulo · 2022Pooled it
- Worldwide variation in human growth and the World Health Organization growth standards: a systematic review.BMJ open · 2014Pooled it
- Trial
- Use of WHO Growth Standards Rather Than Locally Specific Linear Growth Curves Promotes Equity in Pediatric Growth Research for Children Younger Than 5 Years.Nutrition reviews · 2026Review
- Postnatal growth trajectories of very preterm appropriate-for-gestational-age infants from term-equivalent age to 6 years.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Mixed Milk Feeding Patterns and Growth Outcomes During the First Year of Life in Asian Infants: Application of Predefined Feeding Clusters to Test Associations.Current developments in nutrition · 2025Article
- Are boys more vulnerable to stunting? Examining risk factors, differential sensitivity, and measurement issues in Zambian infants and young children.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Comparison of Nutritional Status of Healthy Under-Five Indian Children Using Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure on WHO 2006 versus 2019 Indian Synthetic Growth Charts.Indian journal of pediatrics · 2024Observational
- Neonatal head circumference by gestation reflects adaptation to maternal body size: comparison of different standards.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Comparison of National Growth Standards for Turkish Infants and Children with World Health Organization Growth StandardsJournal of clinical research in pediatric endocrinology · 2022Article
- Differences in Postnatal Growth of Preterm Infants in Northern China Compared to the INTERGROWTH-21st Preterm Postnatal Growth Standards: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2022Article
- Growth in Exclusively Breastfed and Non-exclusively Breastfed Children: Comparisons with WHO Child Growth Standards and Korean National Growth Charts.Journal of Korean medical science · 2021Article
- What is normal, healthy growth? Global health, human biology, and parental perspectives.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2021Review
- Growth Patterns of Indonesian Infants with Cow's Milk Allergy and Fed with Soy-Based Infant Formula.Pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology & nutrition · 2021Article
- Comparison of Postnatal Growth Charts of Singleton Preterm and Term Infants Using World Health Organization Standards at 40-160 Weeks Postmenstrual Age: A Chinese Single-Center Retrospective Cohort Study.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2021Article
- Misclassification of stunting, underweight and wasting in children 0-5 years of South Asian and Dutch descent: ethnic-specificPublic health nutrition · 2020Article
- Growth patterns from birth to 24 months in Chinese children: a birth cohorts study across China.BMC pediatrics · 2018Article
- What do we learn from comparing ethnic-specific and WHO child growth references?Public health nutrition · 2018Article
- Development of a New Growth Standard for Breastfed Chinese Infants: What Is the Difference from the WHO Growth Standards?PloS one · 2016Article
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6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveIn 2006 the World Health Organization (WHO) published new optimal growth standards for all healthy infants worldwide. To assess their general applicability to a recently transitioned Chinese population, we compared them with infant growth patterns in a representative sample of Hong Kong infants. DESIGN AND SETTINGS: Weight at birth and at 1, 3, 9, 12, 18 and 36 months, length at 3 and 9 months and height at 36 months were obtained for over 80% of all infants born in April and May 1997 (3880 boys and 3536 girls). Age and sex specific z scores were calculated relative to the WHO growth standards for term singletons.
resultsWeight for age was close to the 50th percentile of the WHO growth standards for both boys (mean z score: 0.00) and girls (0.04) at most time points before 3 years of age. However, our participants were shorter at 3 years, where the z scores in height were -0.34 and -0.38 for boys and girls, respectively. Restricting the analysis to a subset matching the WHO criteria for healthy infants without restrictions on growth gave similar results.
conclusionsAlthough the WHO study group concluded there was a striking similarity in length/height among different populations, Hong Kong Chinese toddlers are, on average, shorter. Epigenetic constraints on growth coupled with the rapid epidemiological transition in Hong Kong may not have allowed sufficient generations for infants and children to reach their full genetic height potential, and with it the WHO standards. A universal infant growth standard may not be appropriate across all populations.
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