ArticleAnnals of nutrition & metabolism2014
Modelling childhood growth using fractional polynomials and linear splines.
Article in Annals of nutrition & metabolism, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 60 papers.
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Who cites it
60 citing papers in PubMed.
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- Ethnic Differences in Weight Category Transition and Body Mass Index Trajectories from Adolescence to Young Adulthood in Israel.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Four methods to identify sensitive periods of infant weight gain associated with adolescent BMI in a Chinese birth cohort.Scientific reports · 2025Observational
- Sex-specific socioeconomic inequalities in trajectories of anthropometry, blood pressure, and blood-based biomarkers from birth to 18 years: a prospective cohort study.European journal of public health · 2025Article
- Prospective prediction of childhood body mass index trajectories using multi-task Gaussian processes.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2025Article
- Bayesian fractional polynomial approach to quantile regression and variable selection with application in the analysis of blood pressure among US adults.Journal of applied statistics · 2025Article
- The association between sexual orientation and psychotic like experiences during adolescence: a prospective cohort study.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2024Article
- Social inequalities in child mental health trajectories: a longitudinal study using birth cohort data 12 countries.BMC public health · 2024Article
- First trimester plasma PER- AND Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) and blood pressure trajectories across the second and third trimesters of pregnancyEnvironment international · 2024Article
- Trends in Chiropractic Care and Physical Rehabilitation Use Among Adults with Low Back Pain in the United States, 2002 to 2018.Journal of general internal medicine · 2024Article
- Life course effects of genetic susceptibility to higher body size on body fat and lean mass: prospective cohort study.International journal of epidemiology · 2023Article
- Sex-specific trajectories of molecular cardiometabolic traits from childhood to young adulthood.Heart (British Cardiac Society) · 2023Article
- Paternal BMI in the preconception period, and the association with child zBMI.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2023Article
- Article
- Age-Specific Quantification of Overweight/Obesity Risk Factors From Infancy to Adolescence and Differences by Educational Level of Parents.International journal of public health · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThere is increasing emphasis in medical research on modelling growth across the life course and identifying factors associated with growth. Here, we demonstrate multilevel models for childhood growth either as a smooth function (using fractional polynomials) or a set of connected linear phases (using linear splines).
methodsWe related parental social class to height from birth to 10 years of age in 5,588 girls from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Multilevel fractional polynomial modelling identified the best-fitting model as being of degree 2 with powers of the square root of age, and the square root of age multiplied by the log of age. The multilevel linear spline model identified knot points at 3, 12 and 36 months of age.
resultsBoth the fractional polynomial and linear spline models show an initially fast rate of growth, which slowed over time. Both models also showed that there was a disparity in length between manual and non-manual social class infants at birth, which decreased in magnitude until approximately 1 year of age and then increased.
conclusionsMultilevel fractional polynomials give a more realistic smooth function, and linear spline models are easily interpretable. Each can be used to summarise individual growth trajectories and their relationships with individual-level exposures.
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