Head and chest circumferences in rural Guatemalan Ladino children, birth to seven years of age.
Growth patterns in head and chest circumferences are reported for a mixed-longitudinal sample of rural Guatemalan Ladino children from birth to 7 years of age. The sample is representative of a population with suboptimal nutrition. Both circumferences show similar rapid growth from birth through 9 months, after which chest circumference continues to increase more rapidly, while head circumference increases at a slower rate. Chest circumference provides nutritional information apparently not contained in length and weight. Compared to a sample of well-nourished children from Denver, the head circumferences of Guatemalan children are consistently smaller. Differences are relatively small at birth, are well established by 6 months, and become progressively greater through 24 months. After 2 years the mean smaller head circumference of the Guatemalan children also reflects stunted growth during the first 2 years of life. Similarly, among 5-year-old Guatemalan children of similar stature, head circumference at 5 years of age indicates which of these children were more stunted in stature at 2 years of age.
D000367:Age Factors; D000886:Anthropometry; D002508:Cephalometry; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003120:Colorado; D005260:Female; D006128:Growth; D006166:Guatemala; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D013909:Thorax / Q000033:anatomy & histology*