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Int J Sports Med 1997; 18: S204-S207
DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-972716
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© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Limitations of Growth Charts Derived from Longitudinal Studies: The Euro-Growth Study

M. A. van't Hof1 , F. Haschke2 ,  The Euro-Growth Study Group3
  • 1Department of Medical Statistics, Nijmegen University, The Netherlands
  • 2Department of Pediatrics, University of Vienna, Austria
  • 3Austria: C. Male, A. Golser; Germany: F. Manz, E. Jekov, M. Radke; Hungary: E. Barko, S. Darvay; Sweden: L. Persson, M. Lundstrom; Croatia: I. Svel, G. Armano; Italy: C. Salerno, Greece: T. Zachou; Scotland: J. Durnin, S. Savage; Ireland: V. Freeman, N. Teixeira Santos, A. Guerra; Spain; M. Hernandez, J. Molina Font, R. Tojo, E. Sanches Gonzales, J. Argmeni, C. Caballero, M. Manrique; France: J. Schmitz, J. Muns, J. Belay, B. Digeon
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Publikationsdatum:
09. März 2007 (online)

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Length and weight for age (1 - 12 months) charts are presented for the longitudinal Euro-Growth Study. '„Weight-for-length”, another widely used growth chart, presents a problem from a methodological point of view. Target length values (53 - 77 cm) are not observed in all infants, leading to truncated age distributions at most target lengths. It was demonstrated that the age at which the target length was reached (Fig. 8) had a significant influence on weight especially at a smaller length. This implies that the weight-for-length charts are biased. This phenomenon is due to the longitudinal measurement schedule at prechosen ages and not at prechosen lengths, which is impossible. To obtain the desired length-corrected weight standards, it is advocated to construct age-related body mass indices.

Key words

Longitudinal growth standards - weight-for-length - age-for-length - survival regression - mid-parent height