Growth curves for French people with Down syndrome from birth to 20 years of age

Abstract

We present new and complete growth charts for 2,598 healthy French children and adolescents with Down syndrome (DS) from 0 to 20 years old, obtained with highly reliable statistical methods. This study is retrospective and addresses data collected over a period of 12 years, monocentric and with a satisfactory representation of the population nationwide. Final occipito‐frontal circumference (OFC) is at the fifth percentile compared to WHO charts, with a drop between 12 and 18 months. Final height is at the first percentile compared to WHO charts for girls and boys with two periods of reduced growth velocity: before 36 months and around puberty. We observed no pubertal growth peak for girls. For boys, pubertal growth peak showed to happen earlier and to be less significant than in the general population. When compared to a previous French study with people affected with DS, pubertal growth acceleration begins at a later age for girls and boys; girls in our study are taller at age 15 (+5 cm), but there is no difference for boys at this age. Overweight is more frequent compared to the typical French population. Mean body mass index (BMI) rises rapidly above the 75th percentile of typical French children as early as age 4, with an earlier age for precocious adiposity rebound. The second period for rapid increase of BMI is around 14 years old. When compared to a previous French study with DS, we did not observe any BMI increase, at least up to the age of 14.

A normative chart for cognitive development in a genetically selected population

“…To that end, ideally variantspecific (age-) normative reference data are obtained, allowing for the comparison of an individual's performance to the group's indices over time and potentially helpful in setting realistic expectations regarding (future) performance. This is analogous to the significantly improved accuracy and clinical relevance of monitoring physical growth in an individual with Down syndrome when using normative physical growth data from studies of individuals with Down syndrome [14,15]. When using norm data obtained from the general population, a child with Down syndrome may be considered growth-delayed, whereas in reality their growth trajectory may be as expected for someone with this genetic condition.…”

Growth charts for Mexican children with Down syndrome

“…Although the present study did not measure pubertal status and growth velocity, the results show that children with DS have a lesser growth spurt and a slow growth pattern between the age of 8 and 11 years, which contributes to their lower final height, since the age at onset of puberty and the rate of growth are inversely proportional (Holmgren et al, 2017). In the higher centiles of males over 18 years, there is continued growth: future studies should therefore expand the sample to 21 years of age, as in the study by Mircher et al (2018).…”

“…These include heart disease, thyroid dysfunction, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, celiac disease, child abuse, and malnutrition (Jaruratanasirikul et al, 2017). Roche (1965) first described the growth of persons with DS, and since then, various authors have published growth charts specifically for children with DS in different countries: Italy (Piro et al, 1990), Portugal (Fernandes et al, 2001), the United Kingdom (Styles et al, 2002), Sweden (Myrelid et al, 2002), Japan (Kimura et al, 2003), Egypt (Afifi et al, 2012), Spain (Durán et al, 2004), the Netherlands (Toledo et al, 1996;Van Gameren-Oosterom et al, 2012), Turkey (Tüysüz et al, 2012), China (Su et al, 2014), the United States (C. E. Cronk, 1978) (C. Cronk et al, 1988) (Zemel et al, 2015), United Arab Emirates (Aburawi et al, 2015), Brazil (Bertapelli et al, 2017), and France (Mircher et al, 2018). All of these studies show a slow pattern of growth with a short final stature approximately 2 SD below the mean (Bertapelli et al, 2014).…”

Psychomotor development in infants and young children with Down syndrome—A prospective, repeated measure, post‐hoc analysis

“…Neuronal loss and deceleration of brain growth, affecting the volume of frontal and temporal lobes, were observed as early as the second trimester of pregnancy and have been linked to cognitive deficits in children with DS (Lott, 2012). Along with reduced brain growth, children with DS exhibit diminished growth in head circumference (Palmer et al, 1992) especially before 12 months (Mircher et al, 2018). Even though head circumference presents only an indirect measure of brain development, the correlation between the GMDS GDQ and head circumference was assessed by age category at time of evaluation by Pearson correlation coefficient.…”

“…Number of children in each age category at each visit-modified per protocol set with DS exhibit diminished growth in head circumference(Palmer et al, 1992) especially before 12 months(Mircher et al, 2018). Even though head circumference presents only an indirect measure of brain development, the correlation between the GMDS GDQ and head circumference was assessed by age category at time of evaluation by Pearson correlation coefficient.…”