Growth references for weight, height, and body mass index for Ecuadorian children and adolescents aged 5-19 years.

Abstract

The assessment of growth during childhood and adolescence is a critical component of health care at all levels, but it is also part of nutritional status diagnosis and the timely detection of related conditions. Ecuador lacks national growth references, so it has decided to adopt the international standards proposed by the World Health Organization. The objective of this study was to develop national references for weight, height, and body mass index for children and adolescents. Ecuadorian schoolchildren and adolescents aged 5-19 years were studied between 1999 and 2012. The LMS method for cross-sectional data, which uses the Box-Cox transformation to normalize data distribution at each age, was applied to estimate the 3rd, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, and 97th centiles for weight, height, and body mass index. A total of 5934 healthy subjects (2788 boys and 3146 girls) participated. Boys were heavier and taller than girls. In all cases, values increased with age. At 18 years old, the differences between sexes averaged 8 kg and 12.5 cm. The tables and curves obtained with this study are the first descriptive growth references for Ecuadorian children and adolescents aged 5-19 years. They are relevant for nutritional assessment. Their use at the primary level of care will aid in nutritional status diagnosis, which has traditionally been done based on the World Health Organization's international standards.