Articles

Determination of the Actual Height Predictors in Iranian Healthy Children

Abstract

Height measurement is an important part of nutritional assessment especially in children. However, in such cases as hospitalized or certain kinds of malformations or disabilities, height cannot be measured accurately. We aimed to determine appropriate height predictors in Iranian healthy children for further use in disabled and/or hospitalized children. A total of 730 apparently healthy children aged 7-11 years old from both sexes from Tehran, Meshed and Rasht were enrolled in a cross sectional study. Height, demispan (DS), halfspan (HS), arm length (AL) and tibia length (TL) were all measured using a measuring tape. Linear regression models were established between height, DS, HS, AL and TL. For boys AL (R2=0.783) and TL (R2=0.837) and for girls AL (R2=0.720), TL (R2=0.765), HS (R2=0.771) and age (R2=0.775), respectively, entered the linear regression model. When height predictors were evaluated individually for each city, only in Tehran DS also entered the regression model. Concordance of different percentiles of height estimates based on AL with those of actual height proposed this measure as a reliable height proxy for this age group in clinical as well as field practice.

Socrates C, Grantham-McGregor SM, Harknett SG, Seal AJ. Poor nutrition is a serious problem in children with cerebral palsy in Palawan, the Philippines. Int J Rehabil Res 2000;23(3):177-84.

Tompsett J, Yousafzai AK, Filteau SM. The nutritional status of disabled children in Nigeria: a cross-sectional survey. Eur J Clin Nutr 1999;53(12):915-9.

Hogan SE, Evers SE. A nutritional rehabilitation program for persons with severe physical and developmental disabilities. J Am Diet Assoc 1997;97(2):162-6.

Lindström B, Köhler L. Youth, disability and quality of life. Pediatrician 1991;18(2):121-8.

van den Berg-Emons RJ, van Baak MA, Westerterp KR. Are skinfold measurements suitable to compare body fat between children with spastic cerebral palsy and healthy controls? Dev Med Child Neurol 1998;40(5):335-9.

Versluis RG, Petri H, van de Ven CM, Scholtes AB, Broerse ER, Springer MP, Papapoulos SE. Usefulness of armspan and height comparison in detecting vertebral deformities in women. Osteoporos Int 1999;9(2):129-33.

Jarzem PF, Gledhill RB. Predicting height from arm measurements. J Pediatr Orthop 1993;13(6):761-5.

Duyar I, Pelin C. Body height estimation based on tibia length in different stature groups. Am J Phys Anthropol 2003;122(1):23-7.

Chumlea WC, Guo SS, Steinbaugh ML. Prediction ofstature from knee height for black and white adults and children with application to mobility-impaired or handicapped persons. J Am Diet Assoc 1994;94(12):1385- 8, 1391; quiz 1389-90.

Kwok T, Lau E, Woo J. The prediction of height by armspan in older Chinese people. Ann Hum Biol2002;29(6):649-56.

Hirani V, Mindell J. A comparison of measured height and demi-span equivalent height in the assessment of body mass index among people aged 65 years and over in England. Age Ageing 2008;37(3):311-7.

Rabito EI, Mialich MS, Martínez EZ, García RW, Jordao AA Jr, Marchini JS. Validation of predictive equations for weight and height using a metric tape. Nutr Hosp 2008;23(6):614-8.

de Lucia E, Lemma F, Tesfaye F, Demisse T, Ismail S. The use of armspan measurement to assess the nutritional status of adults in four Ethiopian ethnic groups. Eur J Clin Nutr 2002;56(2):91-5.

Kwok T, Woo J, Lau E. Armspan: height ratio to predict vertebral deformity in older Chinese people. J Am Geriatr Soc 2001;49(4):371.

Kwok T, Whitelaw MN. The use of armspan in nutritional assessment of the elderly. J Am Geriatr Soc 1991;39(5):492-6.

Yousafzai AK, Filteau SM, Wirz SL, Cole TJ. Comparison of armspan, arm length and tibia length as predictors of actual height of disabled and nondisabled children in Dharavi, Mumbai, India. Eur J Clin Nutr 2003;57(10):1230-4.

Jeong SK, Kim JM, Kweon SS, Shin MH, Seo MW, Kim YH. Does arm length indicate cognitive and functional reserve? Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 2005;20(5):406-12.

Pelin IC, Duyar I. Estimating stature from tibia length: a comparison of methods. J Forensic Sci 2003;48(4):708-12.

Hogan SE. Knee height as a predictor of recumbent length for individuals with mobility-impaired cerebral palsy. J Am Coll Nutr 1999;18(2):201-5.

Files
IssueVol 49, No 3 (2011) QRcode
SectionArticles
Keywords
Disability evaluation Nutritional status Body height Arm Tibia

Rights and permissions
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
1.
Neyestani TR, Dad-khah M, Haidari H, Zowghi T, Maddah M, Nematy M, Aliabadi M. Determination of the Actual Height Predictors in Iranian Healthy Children. Acta Med Iran. 1;49(3):173-178.