Development Flashcards
What is plotted in a growth chart and what is it plotted against?
Plot a child’s weight, height and head circumference against the normal distribution for their age and gender.
The child’s measurements are plotted on a graph using a dot.
What is plotted on the x-axis and y-axis of a growth chart?
x-axis: age
y-axis: weight, height, head circumference
What do the curves indicate on a growth chart?
The normal distribution of growth over time.
What do the centiles indicate on a growth chart?
Centiles indicate where a child’s growth compares to the normal distribution for their age and sex.
Use chart that matches sex of child as growth is different between boys and girls.
If a child is on the 50th centile and a child is on the 1st centile for height, what does this mean?
50th centile - child is exactly average height for their age
1st centile - child is shorter than 99% of children their age
If a child is not gaining weight or height, what is important to establish with the growth chart?
Establish whether the child is maintaining their centile. If a child is on the 9th centile but has always been on the 9th centile then it is much less concerning than a child that was on the 91st centile and is now on the 9th.
What are the 3 phases of growth in children?
1) First 2 years - rapid growth driven by nutritional factors
2) From 2 years to puberty - steady slow growth
3) During puberty - rapid growth spurt driven by sex hormones
Why is obesity occurring in children?
- consuming more calories than are expended through activity and growth
- readily available, affordable, hyper-palatable, high calorie foods
- shift from physical activities and outdoor play to sedentary activities e.g. video games and screens
What is overweight defined as in terms of BMI and centiles?
BMI >85th percentile
What is obese defined as in terms of BMI and centiles?
BMI >95th percentile
What are the effects of obesity in children?
- bullying
- developing impaired glucose tolerance
- T2DM
- CVD
- arthritis
- cancers
- likely to continue into adulthood unless family engages and addresses the issue
How is failure to thrive defined?
Poor physical growth and development in a child.
What is faltering growth?
Fall in weight across:
- one or more centile spaces if birthweight was below 9th centile
- two or more centile spaces if birthweight was between 9th and 91st centile
- three or more centile spaces if their birthweight was above 91st centile
What are broad causes of failure to thrive?
- inadequate nutritional intake
- difficulty feeding
- malabsorption
- increased energy requirements
- inability to process nutrition
What are causes of inadequate nutritional intake leading to failure to thrive?
- maternal malabsorption if breastfeeding
- iron deficiency anaemia
- family or parental problems
- neglect
- availability of food (ie. poverty)
What are causes of difficulty of feeding that lead to failure to thrive?
- poor suck e.g. due to cerebral palsy
- cleft lip or palate
- genetic conditions with abnormal facial structure
- pyloric stenosis
What are causes of malabsorption that lead to failure to thrive?
- cystic fibrosis
- coeliac disease
- cow’s milk intolerance
- chronic diarrhoea
- IBD