Growth charts for Brazilian children with Down syndrome: Birth to 20 years of age.
BACKGROUND
The growth of youth with Down syndrome (DS) differs from that of youth without DS, and growth charts specific to DS have been developed. However, little is known about the growth of Brazilian youth with DS. The objective of this study was to construct growth charts for Brazilian youth with DS and compare the growth data with the Child Growth Standards of the World Health Organization (WHO) and charts for children with DS from other studies.


METHODS
Mixed longitudinal and cross-sectional data were collected at University of Campinas, 48 specialized centers for people with intellectual disabilities, and two foundations for people with DS between 2012 and 2015. A total of 10,516 growth measurements from birth to 20 years of age were available from 938 youth with DS (53.7% boys) born between 1980 and 2013. The Lambda Mu Sigma method was applied to construct the curves using generalized additive models for location, scale, and shape.


RESULTS
Length/height-for-age, weight-for-age, and head circumference-for-age percentile curves were generated for Brazilian boys and girls from birth to 20 years of age. Differences in growth of Brazilian youth ranged from -0.8 to -3.2 z-scores compared to WHO standards, and -1.9 to +1.3 compared to children with DS in other studies.


CONCLUSIONS
These specific growth charts may guide clinicians and families in monitoring the growth of Brazilian children and adolescents with DS.
CAPES Foundation, Ministry of Education of Brazil, Brazil; Growth and Development Lab, Center for Investigation in Pediatrics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas, Brazil. Electronic address: fbertapelli@gmail.com.
Fabio
F
Bertapelli
Department of Kinesiology, Mississippi State University, USA.
Stamatis
S
Agiovlasitis
Growth and Development Lab, Center for Investigation in Pediatrics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas, Brazil.
Maira Rossmann
MR
Machado
Growth and Development Lab, Center for Investigation in Pediatrics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas, Brazil.
Raísa
R
do Val Roso
Growth and Development Lab, Center for Investigation in Pediatrics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas, Brazil; Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas, Brazil.
Gil
G
Guerra-Junior
D000293:Adolescent; D001837:Body Weights and Measures / Q000592:standards*; D001938:Brazil; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004314:Down Syndrome; D005260:Female; D057238:Growth Charts; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D012015:Reference Standards; D014944:World Health Organization; D055815:Young Adult
Development; Height; Trisomy 21; Weight