Performance of WHO Growth Standards on Indian Children with Growth Related Disorders

Abstract

To assess performance of WHO 2006 standards on anthropometric measurements of children referred for growth related disorders to a speciality pediatric clinic in Pune, India, from June 2006 through June 2010. Data presented in this study were collected retrospectively from case records of all children from birth to 60 mo (n=1840, mean age 2.7±1.3 y) who presented with growth related disorders; healthy age and sex matched children were recruited as controls (n=824, mean age 2.8±1.2 y). Children were divided as per their clinical diagnosis into eight different groups: growth hormone deficiency, bone disorders, syndromic short stature, familial short stature, hypothyroidism, nutritional and systemic disorder, other endocrinopathies and overgrowth disorders. Anthropometric parameters for all study subjects were converted to standard deviation scores (SD scores) using the WHO Anthro 2005. Mean height SD scores of children with growth related disorders were significantly lower than that of the controls, while that of the tall children were significantly higher (p<0.05). All children who were clinically very short were below the 1st percentile, while none of the children with overgrowth or normal children were classified as stunted. Weight for height SD scores of children with nutritional and systemic disorders were the lowest, while those for the obese children were the highest. The present results suggest that the WHO 2006 growth standards classify children with growth disorders appropriately and the classification is in concordance with the clinical assessment. They provide health practitioners in a clinical setting with an effective tool to assess growth of children.