Height and weight progression patterns in Mexican children aged between 6 and 12 years and differences with Ramos-Galván growth charts 40 years later

Abstract

Introduction: Children and adolescents weight and height are a reflection of the health status and socioeconomic development of a population. Objective: To evaluate height and weight progression patterns of Mexican children and compare them with Dr. Ramos-Galván growth charts 40 years later. Method: Cross-sectional survey conducted on the population of the National Physical Activation Program "Ponte al 100", which includes boys and girls aged six to 12 years. Results: 43,670 boys and 44,103 girls were assessed, stratified by gender and age. The height progression pattern between six and 12 years was 21 cm in males and 22 cm in females, whereas the weight progression pattern was 9.86 and 10.05 kg, respectively, for males and females. The proportion of six-and 12-year-old boys who were overweight was 11.2 and 9 %, while 14.7 and 15 % were obese. The proportion of six-and 12-year-old girls who were overweight was 8.2 and 9.1 %, whereas 21.7 and 13.3 %, respectively, were obese. When the obtained values were compared with those of Dr. Ramos Galván growth charts for boys and girls, the average difference was 2 cm. Conclusions: No secular height or weight increase within the last 40 years was documented.

Trajectories of Body Height, Body Weight, BMI, and Nutrition Status from 1979 to 1987: A Measurement-Based Analysis of 8740 Montenegrin Male Adolescents from the Municipality of Berane

“…In recent decades, rapid economic development and better living standards have enabled positive secular trends in children and adolescents' physical growth [5][6][7][8]. Due to this progressive change in mean growth values, which can be observed in most industrialized countries around the world [9,10], as well as in Montenegro [11], these parameters must be updated from time to time [2].…”