Study of heights, weights, hemoglobin values, and hematocrit values among children six weeks to six years of age

Growth performance has been useful as an indication of children's health. For this reason, growth norms were established to further enhance the assessment of children by comparison to normal ranges based on large samples of children. Growth charts can be helpful in many populations if regional variations are known and used in application and interpretation of children's growth performance. Yet, the most commonly used growth charts were established in the 1940's. Thus, regional revalidation of norms is an appropriate function of child health professionals. Despite the adequacy of physical measurements in assessing health, early detection of growth problems may be facilitated by considering factors influencing growth. Nutrition is one of the most important of these factors. Actually, nutrition implies ingestion of a combination of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals, whose individual influences are not well understood. The influence of iron levels within the body on growth and growth related factors, such as hemoglobin, has stimulated much interest and produced some controversial results. However, if early detection of problems related to growth and health can be facilitated by establishing a variety of criteria based upon factors considered to influence growth, monitoring and recording of these influences is essential. Although not as precise as transferrin saturation levels or bone-marrow studies, hemoglobin and hematocrit values provide an indirect measure of the body's iron, which is often considered adequate for routine health examinations where the values need to be easily and inexpensively obtained. Since concern about growth of children is a primary concern of pediatric nurse clinicians, the heights and weights of a sample of children from North Dakota were compared to Stuart's Growth Charts. These data were further analyzed to determine their relationship to the hemoglobin and hematocrit levels obtained. Hemoglobin, hematocrit, height, and weight determinations were obtained on 144 children between the ages of 6 weeks and 6 years from the Fargo, North Dakota area. Three outpatient clinics were utilized as data collection centers, where the investigator gathered data over a period of one month. The infants and children in this study showed positive relationships between heights and weights, and hemoglobins and hematocrits at the .05 level of significance for the total sample. These statistically significant relationships were not found when small (N - 4-5) age-sex subgroup calculations were made. A larger number of children are needed to resolve these conflicting results. However, in this group of children those whose growth was greater at a specific age also had higher hemoglobin and hematocrit levels. The comparison of the North Dakota sample to Stuart's Growth Charts showed that though these children follow the general trend characterized on the charts, infant boys and girls are larger than Stuart's sample. At the same time, girls (2 to 6 years of age) tend to be smaller both in weight and height than his sample. The findings of this study suggest that nurses and of her health professionals who have knowledge of regional characteristics and patterns of growth are in a position to provide more accurate assessments and interpretations of children's growth performance. In addition, if early detection of deviations in growth is to be facilitated, hemoglobin and hematocrit determinations, while adequately measuring general health status, may not be the ideal measures for early detection since they lack the required specificity.