Gelander Lars, Hagenäs Lars, Albertsson-Wikland Kerstin
Centrum för pediatrisk tillväxtforskning, Institutet för kvinnors och barns hälsa, Göteborgs universitet.
Lakartidningen. 2002 Jan 17;99(3):162-4.
The growth of children is an important health indicator. In the individual child, growth mirrors health or illness. At the child population level, growth may be used to monitor living conditions. Continued deviations may indicate somatic disorders or psychosocial problems. The assessment of the growth of an individual child is complicated due to the difficulty to measure children. Thus, the height of the child will have to deviate substantially from that of the reference population before action is called for. The progress over time of the child's growth, on the other hand, is a much more sensitive indicator of ill health than is the height of the child at a certain age. Systematic assessment of each measuring may serve as an aid to detect abnormal growth and thereby facilitate a correct diagnosis.
儿童的生长是一项重要的健康指标。对于个体儿童而言，生长反映健康或疾病状况。在儿童群体层面，生长可用于监测生活条件。持续的偏差可能表明躯体疾病或心理社会问题。由于测量儿童存在困难，对个体儿童生长的评估较为复杂。因此，在需要采取行动之前，儿童的身高必须与参照群体有显著偏差。另一方面，儿童生长随时间的进展比某一年龄时的身高更能敏感地反映健康不佳状况。对每次测量进行系统评估有助于发现异常生长，从而便于做出正确诊断。
