The Risk of Accepting New Standard of the World Health Organization for Evaluating Growth of the Czech Child Population (0–5 years of age)

Czech version

Authors: M. Paulová ¹; J. Vignerová ¹; L. Lhotská ²; M. Hrušková ³
Authors‘ workplace: Státní zdravotní ústav, Praha ředitel MUDr. M. Bořek ¹; International Baby Food Action Network, Geneva, Switzerland Regional coordinator for Europe RNDr. L. Lhotská, CSc. ²; Katedra biologie, Pedagogická fakulta, České Budějovice vedoucí prof. RNDr. M. Papáček, CSc. ³
Published in: Čes-slov Pediat 2008; 63 (9): 465-472.
Category: Original Papers

Overview

Purpose of the study:
To compare the current Czech growth reference with the new standards of the World Health Organization (WHO), published in 2006. WHO considers breastfeeding a biological norm and growth of a breastfed child a normative model. New standards are therefore a result of an international study of breastfed children.

Methods:
The percentile values for body length, height, weight and weight-for-height of both sets of data formed the basis for our comparison.

Results:
Children in the WHO study were from birth in general smaller than Czech children. On the contrary, their values for weight were higher in the first six months despite almost identical birth weight. These differences result in higher values of the weight-for-length (height) in the first months according to the WHO standards compared to the Czech reference.

Conclusions:
Higher values in weight-for-age and weight-for-length (height) may significantly influence the assessment of adequacy of child nutrition in pediatric practice and lead to premature introduction of complementary foods. This is one of the reasons why at present, despite evident positive features of the new WHO standards, we do not consider it appropriate to adopt the standards in their entirety for assessment of growth of Czech children from birth to five years of age. On the other hand, it appears very desirable to test the WHO standard and the results of our comparison on a sample of Czech children exclusively breastfed and breastfed for an extended period. Finally, it is an imperative to promote correct use of the current growth charts in the pediatric practice and in so doing contribute to optimal infant and young child nutrition of Czech children.

Key words:
growth factors, growth standards, World Health Organization, breastfeeding, MGRS, anthropometry

Sources

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Article was published in

Czech-Slovak Pediatrics

2008 Issue 9