title: Predictive value of short-term growth using knemometry in a large population of healthy children.
abstract: We have analyzed the lower leg growth using a knemometer and the height growth using a stadiometer of 90 healthy children aged 3-16 years, for one year. The intra- and inter-individual monthly lower leg growth varied up to 4-fold, which was not accounted for by age or sex. The correlation between short term and annual lower leg growth rates increased with longer observation periods. There was no month-to-month consistency in the ratio of lower leg growth and height growth. There was no correlation between 1 month lower leg growth and annual height growth. The correlation increased with time. The 6-month observation interval was the interval with the highest predictive value for annual lower leg growth (R2 = 0.727) and annual height growth (R2 = 0.732). We conclude that growth of different parts of the skeleton and variable interval growth rates limits the ability of knemometry to predict long term growth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Dean
authors.forename: C T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Schentag
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Winter
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000886:Anthropometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D001827:Body Height; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg / Q000254:growth & development*; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D013997:Time Factors