title: New growth charts for Libyan preschool children.
abstract: To draw up new growth charts for Libyan children under 5 years of age, a cross-sectional survey was carried out in urban and rural areas in 2 regions of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from June 1999 to February 2000. Using WHO cluster sampling methodology, 1473 infants and children of both sexes aged between 0 and 59 months were selected from residential areas, maternal and child health centres, kindergartens and the delivery section of hospitals. Growth charts for weight-for-age, height-for-age and weight-for-height were plotted and smoothed, to provide reference curves for clinical, epidemiological and research purposes. In addition, mean Z-scores were analysed by sociodemographic variables collected from interviews with parents. Factors with a strong influence on childhood growth patterns were child's age, mother's education level and sex.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Al-Jabel Al-Gharbi, Gharian, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. bordomj@hotmail.com
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Bordom
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Billot
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gueguen
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Deschamps
mesh_terms: D000886:Anthropometry; D001827:Body Height / Q000502:physiology*; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006128:Growth / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008002:Libya; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D012016:Reference Values; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires