Is the 2000 CDC growth reference appropriate for developing countries?
In 2000, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) produced a revised growth reference. This has already been used in different settings outside the USA. Using data obtained during a nutritional survey in Madagascar, we compare results produced by using both the 2000 CDC and the 1978 National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)/World Health Organization (WHO) growth references. We show that changing the reference has an important impact on nutritional diagnosis. In particular, the prevalence of wasting is greatly increased. This could generate substantial operational and clinical difficulties. We recommend continued use of the 1978 NCHS/WHO reference until release of the new WHO multi-country growth charts.
Department of Public Health, Nutrition Unit, Institute of Tropical Medicine, 155 Nationalestraat, B-2000 Antwerp, Belgium. droberfroid@itg.be
Dominique
D
Roberfroid
Marie-Paule
MP
Lerude
Armando
A
Pérez-Cueto
Patrick
P
Kolsteren
D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000886:Anthropometry; D002487:Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.; D015362:Child Nutrition Disorders / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003906:Developing Countries; D005260:Female; D006128:Growth / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008270:Madagascar / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States