title: Measuring catch-up growth in malnourished populations.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Numerous recent studies measure catch-up growth by regressing adult or pre-adolescent height on early childhood height. Using simple statistical theory and data from a healthy and well-nourished population, this paper shows that these tests are uninformative about the extent of catch-up growth. The study also provides new empirical evidence on pubertal catch-up growth using longitudinal data for rural Tanzania.
  
  
  METHODS
  The 1970 British Cohort Study is used to demonstrate the flaws in the recent literature using regression techniques to study catch-up growth. The data for the empirical analysis come from the Kagera Health and Development survey-a longitudinal study spanning two decades. The final sample includes 540 children whose heights are measured in early childhood and in adulthood. Catch-up growth is measured as the change in height-for-age z-score over time.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean HAZ-score in the cohort improves from -1.86 in early childhood to -1.20 in adulthood. Without catch-up growth, children would have been 4.5-5 centimetres shorter adults. Graphical analysis shows that most of this catch-up growth takes place in puberty.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Catch-up growth after early childhood is possible. Puberty seems to offer an opportunity window for recovery.
authors.affiliation: University of Sussex, Department of Economics , Brighton BN1 9RH , UK.
authors.forename: Kalle
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirvonen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D013636:Tanzania / Q000453:epidemiology; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult