MEASUREMENT OF
GROWTH FOR CHILDREN WITH DOWN SYNDROME (DS) IN HONG KONG
CM Yu, Betty But, Eva Fung, Shirley Li, LP Li,
Philomena Tse, KL Yam, CB Chow,
J Lau
Hong Kong
Down Syndrome Association (HKDSA)
Measurement
of growth is essential for children with DS both for health monitor and
early detection of underlying medical conditions. There is no growth
standard for Chinese DS children.
Objective: To collect growth and
other health data of DS subjects from the Hong Kong DS Association,
paediatric clinics in different hospitals and DS students studying in
special schools. The growth data will be composite into growth centile
charts.
Method: The
growth and other health data of these DS children aged from 0 to 18 years
of age were retrieved from the medical records. As far as possible, at
least one growth measurement would be measured by one of the
co-investigators using standard method. Their attending paediatricians
completed questionnaires on medical conditions which will be analyzed
separately and correlated with the growth pattern.
Results: 423
DS children participated the study with 252 have their growth
measured by one of the co-investigators. In total, 4200 height
observations and 5491 weight observations were recorded. A growth
curve was constructed from the data. The growth pattern of these DS
children were compared with the HK children growth study (1993) showing
that these DS boys and girls were shorter throughout their whole growing
period but the body weight were comparable to other children of similar
age.
Conclusions: The
study provided important information regarding the growth of Chinese DS
children. The pattern of growth of DS children are very different from
other normal children whose growth curves should not be extrapolated to
them.