title: A cross-sectional study of growth, nutritional status and body proportions in children and adolescents at a medical center specializing in the treatment of cystic fibrosis in Poland.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Malnutrition, delayed growth and delayed puberty are commonly seen in children with cystic fibrosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate growth, nutritional status and body proportions in children and adolescents suffering from cystic fibrosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The evaluation was based on 19 somatic measurements and indices calculated from these measurements. Somatic development was evaluated in relation to several factors connected to the clinical picture or the course of the disease. Anthropometric data were extracted from the medical histories of 41 boys and 48 girls diagnosed and treated at the Institute of Mother and Child in Warsaw (Poland). Mean values for somatic parameters and body build indices for the children suffering from CF were compared to those for the reference group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results revealed that growth in these children was significantly delayed in comparison to that seen in the healthy population (Z-score = -0.56, p < 0.001). Nutritional status was also adversely affected (Z-score = -0.85, p < 0.001). The children suffered more from a deficit in muscularity than in adiposity (Z-score = -0.75 and Z-score = -0.34, p < 0.01, respectively). This was especially true for boys. The children had infantile body proportions and defects in trunk and chest structure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The factors that most affected somatic development were infection by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the time at which the disease was diagnosed. Chronic infection by P. aeruginosa and type of CFTR mutation were the factors that most affected pulmonary function parameters.
authors: Cystic Fibrosis Center, Institute of Mother and Child, Warsaw, Poland.
authors: Dorota
authors: D
authors: Sands
authors: Department of Human Biology, University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland.
authors: Wioleta
authors: W
authors: Umławska
authors: Anthropology Division, Institute of Mother and Child, Warsaw, Poland.
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Zielińska
keywords: Pseudomonas aeruginosa; anthropometry; body proportions; cystic fibrosis; growth status; malnutrition