Nutrition and infection field study in Guatemalan villages, 1959-1964. VII. Physical growth and development of preschool children.

Abstract

This paper evaluated and compared the growth and maturation of preschool children in 3 study villages in Guatemala. Specifically this study sought to determine the extent to which the observed growth responses could be attributed to the nutrition program in the feeding village or to the program of environmental sanitation and health services in the treatment village. Sequential measurements of height weight skinfold over triceps and head circumference were made for all preschool children but those of height and weight were the ones concentrated on for the 5 years of the study. Head circumference although equal at the start of the study increased for the boys faster than for the girls in the 3 villages. Preschool children of both sexes in the feeding village had greater head circumferences than their counterparts in the treatment or control villages. However in all 3 cases these measurements were significantly smaller than for comparable groups in the US. Increase in skinfold measurements with age was similar for boys and girls in all 3 villages. For gain in height with age the general patterns in the 3 villages were similar although children in the feeding village tended to grow faster in height than those in the other 2 villages. Rates of gain in weight with age followed a similar pattern. Average age-specific gains in height and weight were less among children in the treatment and control villages than in the feeding village. The maximum growth potential was generally greater for boys than girls although differences were not significant. Estimates for maximum growth potential for both sexes do not differ among the villages. For weight gain in children under age 1 there were no significant differences between the sexes among the 3 villages in maximum growth potential or growth acceleration. Boys and girls (ages 1-4) in the feeding village have significantly higher rates of gain in height and weight. No significant relationship was found between days of illness and height or weight gain. Clearly children in the feeding village displayed superior nutritional status as seen from growth curves and data on bone maturation and head circumference. However they were still significantly retarded when compared to well-nourished children. Actually the nutritional status of children even in the feeding village was far from optimal due to the irregular consumption of the food supplement. Their better growth performance may have been due to the nutrition education program rather than the supplementary feeding. The 1st hypothesis that the nutrition in the feeding village would improve nutritional status was supported by moderate gains in height weight bone age skinfold thickness and head circumference. The 2nd hypothesis was not supported; that the introduction of environmental sanitation disease prevention and medical care would reduce frequency and severity of disease to allow for an improvement in nutritional status.