title: [Finland is a pioneer in childhood growth monitoring--Is is evidence-based?].
abstract: In Finland, growth monitoring is a fundamental part of preventive child health care, aiming at an early detection of childhood illnesses as well as weight gain or loss. However, evidence-based studies on growth monitoring are practically lacking. Updated growth curves must be representative of the monitored population. Screening of Turner syndrome and celiac disease with novel growth monitoring methods could facilitate early diagnosis. Electronic health records provide an alternative to develop an automated growth monitoring program, which was found to be distinctly better than the manually orientated one in primary care. Systematic growth monitoring seems to be beneficial, although true population- based evidence on effectiveness is scarce.
authors.forename: Antti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saari
authors.forename: Ulla
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Sankilampi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*