Growth abnormalities in Mexican-American children in the United States: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I Study

Abstract

Numerous regional studies have indicated a high prevalence of growth abnormalities among Mexican-American children. It has been suggested that this is a constitutional problem. In order to evaluate this, a comparison of selected parameters of growth and nutritional status were made between Mexican-American and European-American children (<19 years) using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I. Height, weight, body mass index (BMI) and daily dietary energy intake were standardized for age and sex, and compared using analysis of variance techniques. Socioeconomic status was analyzed by utilizing a poverty index. Our results show that 10 percent of MA children fall below the 5th percentile for height while weight is normally distributed. On analysis by SES, low SES MA children were dramatically stunted and exhibited marked elevations in BMI in comparison to low SES EA children. These differences diminished with increasing SES so that at high SES, no differences in height or BMI were noted. While no differences in weight within SES categories were demonstrated between MA and EA children, there was a distinct trend toward increasing weight with increasing SES. MA children demonstrated a difference in caloric intake as compared to EA children only at low SES. The observation that abnormalities in growth seen in MA children at low SES levels disappear at higher SES levels suggests that growth abnormalities among MA children are due to environmental as opposed to genetic factors.