Chinese Preschool Children Growth Reference Standard and Related Curve: Based on GAMLSS Approach

BACKGROUND: The current national growth and development standard of preschool children in China was formulated in 2003, which has many deficiencies. It is necessary to construct more scientific percentile curve and growth reference standards in order to evaluate more effectively the growth, development and health status of Chinese children. METHODS: Based on the physical and health data of 31 provinces in China measured in 2010 and 2014, the GAMLSS model was used to construct the growth reference standard and correlation curve. RESULTS: We obtained growth reference standards for percentile curve and Z-score curve of height-for-age, sitting height-for-age, Weight-for-age, Chest circumference-for-age of Chinese preschool children. The C50 percentile of all indicators showed an obvious increasing trend with aged 3.0 to 6.5. Such as, the height of boys and girls increased by 21.1cm and 20.3cm respectively, the sitting height boys and girls increased by 10.3cm and 10.1cm respectively, the weight of boys and girls increased by 7.1 kg and 6.3 kg respectively, the Chest circumference of boys and girls increased by 6cm and 5.2 cm respectively. CONCLUSION: The children’s growth and development charts provided in this study provide effective monitoring and personalized evaluation tools for the growth and development assessment of preschool children, as well as for the reduction of malnutrition, prevention and control of childhood obesity. It is recommended to be used in some areas such as child health, medical treatment and public health.