Catch-Up Growth in Infants and Young Children With Faltering Growth: Expert Opinion to Guide General Clinicians

Abstract

Sources of Funding: This article was supported by a grant from Danone to enable a consensus meeting to be held virtually on May 2021 and to facilitate the writing and editing of the manuscript. The funders made no scientific, writing, or editorial contribution to the meeting or manuscript. O.G. has given lectures or attended advisory boards for Danone, Biocodex, and Fresenius Kabi. K.H. has received honoraria from Nestle Nutrition Institute and participated as advisory board member for Danone. A.V.K. has received an honorarium from Danone for taking part in this consensus meeting. K.J. has previously received honoraria for lectures from Nutricia and participated as advisory board member for Nutricia. R.M. has received an honorarium from Danone for taking part in this consensus meeting and previously received honoraria for lectures and advisory boards from Danone/Nutricia, Mead Johnson, Abbott, and Nestle. A.M.P. has previously received honoraria to give lectures or attend advisory boards for Danone Institutes International and the Nestlé Nutrition Institute (NNI). A.S. has previously received honoraria to give lectures or attend advisory boards for Danone, Nestle, Reckitt, Phillips, Abbott Nutrition, and several academic institutions. All authors (except K.J.) received an honorarium from Danone for taking part in the consensus meeting resulting in this publication.

Oral nutritional supplementation with dietary counseling improves linear catch-up growth and health outcomes in children with or at risk of undernutrition: a randomized controlled trial

“…Finally, proxy body-composition indices with arm anthropometry also showed that arm muscle indices, but not arm fat indices, were larger in the ONS + DC group compared with the control group. Together, these observations do not suggest continuous and disproportionate weight gain but show improvements in height and body composition assessments ( 37 ).…”

“…A positive change in HAD has been interpreted as a faster-than-normal growth velocity compared to children of their age and sex ( 36 , 46 , 56 , 57 ), which fulfills one criterion of catch-up growth ( 46 , 47 ). Although a wide variety of ‘catch-up growth’ definitions have been used earlier ( 37 , 58 ), Frongillo et al have recently specified the criteria necessary to demonstrate catch-up growth ( 47 ). These criteria are: an initially reduced growth velocity, the removal of an inhibiting condition, and a subsequent higher-than-normal growth velocity ( 47 ).…”

“…Several observations suggest that the ONS + DC group displayed appropriate growth, rather than accelerated growth (or excessive weight gain), which might have adverse effects on long-term health, such as later life obesity ( 37 ). First, none of the children in this study exceeded WHZ > 2 at day 120, the WHO definition of overweight in children.…”

“…Apart from weight and height indices, body composition assessment was also recently highlighted in an expert consensus paper on growth in infants and young children with faltering growth. The panel described the importance of assessing changes in length-for-age z-score as a simple approximate proxy of lean mass, and also suggested the use of anthropometry-based prediction equations from skinfold thickness measurements for body composition in children from skinfold thickness measurements ( 37 ).…”

Geographical variation in hotspots of stunting among under-five children in Ethiopia: A geographically weighted regression and multilevel robust Poisson regression analysis

“…A Bayesian geostatistical analysis done in Ethiopia found that wealth status as a significant predictor of stunting among under-five children [ 13 ]. The underlying reasons for the increased prevalence of growth failure in children from low-income households can be attributed to insufficient food intake, a higher likelihood of illness, and limited access to essential healthcare services [ 58 , 59 ]. It is widely acknowledged that children from low-income households are at a greater risk of growth failure due to inadequate nutrition, which has a direct impact on their overall development and well-being.…”