Dataset Information

Physical growth of the shuar: Height, Weight, and BMI references for an indigenous amazonian population.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES:Information concerning physical growth among small-scale populations remains limited, yet such data are critical to local health efforts and to foster basic understandings of human life history and variation in childhood development. Using a large dataset and robust modeling methods, this study aims to describe growth from birth to adulthood among the indigenous Shuar of Amazonian Ecuador. METHODS:Mixed-longitudinal measures of height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) were collected from Shuar participants (n = 2,463; age: 0-29 years). Centile growth curves and tables were created for each anthropometric variable of interest using Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale, and Shape (GAMLSS). Pseudo-velocity and Lambda-Mu-Sigma curves were generated to further investigate Shuar patterns of growth and to facilitate comparison with United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention and multinational World Health Organization growth references. RESULTS:The Shuar are small throughout life and exhibit complex patterns of growth that differ substantially from those of international references. Similar to other Amazonians, Shuar growth in weight compares more favorably to references than growth in height, resulting in BMI curves that approximate international medians. Several additional characteristics of Shuar development are noteworthy, including large observed variation in body size early in life, significant infant growth faltering, extended male growth into adulthood, and a markedly early female pubertal growth spurt in height. Phenotypic plasticity and genetic selection in response to local environmental factors may explain many of these patterns. CONCLUSIONS:Providing a detailed reference of growth for the Shuar and other Amazonian populations, this study possesses direct clinical application and affords valuable insight into childhood health and the ecology of human growth.

SUBMITTER: Urlacher SS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4696921 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan-Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Physical growth of the shuar: Height, Weight, and BMI references for an indigenous amazonian population.

Urlacher Samuel S SS Blackwell Aaron D AD Liebert Melissa A MA Madimenos Felicia C FC Cepon-Robins Tara J TJ Gildner Theresa E TE Snodgrass J Josh JJ Sugiyama Lawrence S LS

American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council 20150630 1

<h4>Objectives</h4>Information concerning physical growth among small-scale populations remains limited, yet such data are critical to local health efforts and to foster basic understandings of human life history and variation in childhood development. Using a large dataset and robust modeling methods, this study aims to describe growth from birth to adulthood among the indigenous Shuar of Amazonian Ecuador.<h4>Methods</h4>Mixed-longitudinal measures of height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) ...[more]

PMID: 26126793

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Project description:The growth of children is an indicator of health and society's wellbeing. Growth references are useful in monitoring a child's growth, which is a very important part of child care. Poland's growth references are not updated regularly. Although several growth reference ranges have been developed in Poland over recent years, sampling was restricted to urban populations of major cities. The aim of this study was to assess how well Polish children match with, or diverge from, regional charts and to compare them with international growth references.Four Polish and two international (WHO 2007 and USCDC2000) growth references were used to calculate the height, weight and BMI z-scores in a recent, large, population-representative sample of school-aged children and adolescents in Poland. The distributions of z-scores were analysed with descriptive and inferential statistical methods.Mean height z-scores calculated with the use of the WHO 2007 and USCDC2000 references were positive and significantly different from zero over the entire age range. The mean height z-score was closest to zero in the Poznan reference for boys (0.05) and Warszawa reference for girls (0.01). Median weight z-scores were positive under all weight references over the entire age range with only the exception of 18-year-old girls' weight z-score calculated relative to USCDC2000. Median BMI z-scores were positive in males in early childhood, decreasing with age. In the case of girls, the median BMI z-score calculated using WHO 2007 and USCDC2000 was close to zero in early childhood, decreased in adolescents and reached minimum values at age 18 years. Median BMI z-scores calculated with the use of the Lodz reference fluctuated between 0.05 and 0.2 over the studied age range.In this contemporary sample of Polish school-aged children, distributions of height, weight and BMI differed from those of children from the international growth references. These differences should be considered when using the references. There exist certain limitations to the analysis of height, weight, and BMI z-scores when Polish regional references are used.

Project description:The use of appropriate growth standards/references is of significant clinical importance in assessing the height of children with short stature as it may determine eligibility for appropriate therapy. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of using World Health Organization (WHO) instead of national growth standards/references on height assessment in short children. Data were collected from routine clinical practice (1998-2014) from nine European countries that have available national growth references and were enrolled in NordiNet® International Outcome Study (IOS) (NCT00960128), a large-scale, non-interventional, multinational study. The patient cohort consisted of 5996 short pediatric patients diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency (GHD), Turner syndrome (TS) or born small for gestational age (SGA). The proportions of children with baseline height standard deviation score (SDS) below clinical cut-off values (-2 SDS for GHD and TS; -2.5 SDS for SGA) based on national growth references and WHO growth standards/references were compared for children aged <5 years and children aged ?5 years. In seven of the countries evaluated, significantly fewer children aged ?5 years with GHD (22%; P<0.0001), TS (21%; P<0.0001) or born SGA (32%; P<0.0001) had height below clinical cut-off values using WHO growth references vs. national references. Likewise, among children aged <5 years in the pooled analysis of the same seven countries, a significantly lower proportion of children with GHD (8%; P<0.0001), TS (12%; P = 0.0003) or born SGA (12%; P<0.0001) had height below clinical cut-off values using WHO growth standards vs. national references. In conclusion, in NordiNet® IOS the number of patients misclassified using WHO growth standards/references was significantly higher than with national references. This study highlights that, although no growth reference has 100% sensitivity for identifying growth disorders, the most recent national or regional growth charts may offer the most appropriate tool for monitoring childhood growth in Europe.

Project description:BackgroundBody mass index (BMI) is formulated on the assumption that body weight (BW) scales to height with a power of 2 (BW?height(2)), independent of sex and race-ethnicity. Powers differing from 2 are observed in studies of selected samples, thus raising the question if BMI is a generalizable metric that makes BW independent of height across populations.ObjectivesThe objectives were to test the hypothesis that adult BW scales to height with a power of 2 independent of sex and race-ethnicity and to advance an understanding of BMI as a measure of shape by extending allometric analyses to waist circumference (WC).DesignWe conducted cross-sectional subject evaluations, including body composition, from the NHANES and the Korean NHANES (KNHANES). Variations of the allometric model (Y = ?X(?)) were used to establish height scaling powers (? ± SE) across non-Hispanic white and black, Mexican American, and Korean men and women.ResultsExploratory analyses in population samples established age and adiposity as important independent determinants of height scaling powers (i.e., ?). After age and adiposity in the next series of analyses were controlled for, BW scaling powers were nonsignificantly different between race/ethnic groups within each sex group; WC findings were similar in women, whereas small but significant between-race differences were observed in the men. Sex differences in ? values were nonsignificant except for BW in non-Hispanic blacks and WC in Koreans (P < 0.05). Nationally representative powers for BW were (NHANES/KNHANES) 2.12 ± 0.05/2.11 ± 0.06 for men and 2.02 ± 0.04/1.99 ± 0.06 for women and for WC were 0.66 ± 0.03/0.67 ± 0.05 for men and 0.61 ± 0.04/0.56 ± 0.05 for women.ConclusionsAdult BW scales to height with a power of ?2 across the 8 sex and race/ethnic groups, an observation that makes BMI a generalizable height-independent measure of shape across most populations. WC also follows generalizable scaling rules, a finding that has implications for defining body shape in populations who differ in stature.

Dataset Information

Physical growth of the shuar: Height, Weight, and BMI references for an indigenous amazonian population.

Publications

Physical growth of the shuar: Height, Weight, and BMI references for an indigenous amazonian population.

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