Height-Age as An Alternative to Height-For-Age z-Scores to Assess the Effect of Interventions on Child Linear Growth in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Assessments of the efficacy of interventions to improve child growth are often based on differences in mean height-for-age z-scores (HAZ) and stunting (HAZ<-2) in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). However, this approach does not account for children's starting skeletal age and does not enable assessment of the extent to which interventions optimized linear growth.

Objectives

The objectives of this study were to develop and apply a new method using height-age to express linear growth effects in RCTs.

Methods

Longitudinal individual participant data (IPD) from a Bangladeshi trial cohort were used to compare height-age estimates derived from individual-level heights, mean raw height, or mean HAZ. Then, using mean height-age as a proxy for skeletal ag

SUBMITTER: Watson KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11621485 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature