Agreement in Height fo rAge Between Growth References. Caldas, Colombia. 2006-2009

Abstract

Background: different anthropometric references have been proposed and even used in Colombia. However, there are few previous studies reporting results when these references are used and there is no consensus about the ideal reference to be adopted. The objective of this study was to evaluate the concordance between three different anthropometric references in the assessment of height for age in a population under 17 years of age that attended the nutritional program at CONFAMILIARES, Caldas, Colombia, between 2006 and 2009. Methods: a descriptive study of 31.961 children under 17 years attending the nutrition program CONFAMILIARES, Caldas, Colombia between 2006 and 2009. The variables were the height for age and sex. Anthropometric classification with references from the National Center for Health Statistics of the United States (NCHS) and theWorld Health Organization (WHO) was carried out with Anthro and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) with EpiInfo 6.04. Z score was calculated differentiated by sex. Kappa coefficient was estimated to assess the correlation between anthropometric categories and classified it with cutoff Altman DG. Results: the highest concordance was found between the NCHS reference andWHO (girls: 0,854; children: 0,899, p = 0,000), followed by the CDC versus the NCHS (girls: 0,787; children: 0,860, p = 0,000) and the CDC compared with WHO (girls: 0,754; children: 0,829, p =0,000). Conclusions: according to the results could be used any of the three growth references for assessing the height for age in this population.