title: Growth of Hmong children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the growth of a group of young Hmong children.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this descriptive, comparative study, length and weight measures of Hmong children were abstracted from medical charts for each previous clinic visit (newborn to most recent visit) where both measures had been recorded, and measures were compared with National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) standard percentiles. Visits occurred from 1988 to 1994.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were 579 Hmong children, ages 0 to 5 years, who were active patients at a family practice residency clinic.
  
  
  METHODS
  Length and weight.
  
  
  RESULTS
  This group of Hmong children showed lengths similar to those of the NCHS reference population for the first 6 to 12 months of life, after which they lagged behind reference lengths. By the 24th month, median length for Hmong girls and boys was less than the NCHS 25th percentile. The Hmong children's average weight was slightly higher than the NCHS median until about 8 months of age, after which the distributions were similar.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compared with children who comprise the NCHS reference population, the Hmong children in this study were slightly heavier in the first several months of life, and shorter thereafter. Therefore, in general, the Hmong children were proportionately heavier than other children of similar height.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Practice and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA.
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Gjerdingen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ireland
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Chaloner
mesh_terms: D000886:Anthropometry; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005260:Female; D006128:Growth; D006130:Growth Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007812:Laos / Q000208:ethnology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008910:Minnesota; D012016:Reference Values