Growth and Development Flashcards
Why is physical growth important to monitor?
Indicator of health
How is growth monitored?
Measuring weight and height and accurately plotting these on a growth chart
In terms of growth, what are indicators of concern?
- Very tall or short
- Exhibiting growth failure
- Out with their parental target growth
Name different equipment used to measure height accurately
- Harpenden Infant Measuring Table-110 cm and trolley
- Harpenden stadiometer, footboard and calibration stick
- Rollametre
What are some rules of technique used to measure height?
- A child should be measured supine until 2yrs
- A child unable to stand should also be measured supine.
- A child who has one leg shorter than the other should be measured standing on the longest leg. They should always be measured on the same leg.
- Children who are measured supine should have their crown rump measured (head to bottom) and subtract this from total length
What are the measurement techniques in measure supine length?
- Two people required
- Child may require play and distraction techniques
- Place board on firm, flat surface
- One person to ensure head is in contact with headboard and other person positing feet together
- Record to last mm
How should the child be positioned when taken a sitting height?
- Backs of the knees resting on the edge of the table
- Feet supported on adjustable step
- Thighs horizontal
- Back must be straight
- Buttocks against the backboard
- Scapula, wherever possible, against the backboard
- Hands on knees
What can affect sitting height measurement?
Some conditions cause asymmetry and disproportion to the skeleton eg achondroplasia.
Therefore necessary diagnostically to undertake sitting height or crown rump (CR) length measurements.
How is head circumference measured?
- Routine in children < 2yrs
* Tape round forehead and occipital prominence (maximal circumference
What is essential when measuring and recording height or length?
- Accurately measured using good equipment
- Recorded with the date in the child/young person’s health care records
- Plotted accurately on a centile chart
What is important when taking serial measurements?
- Choosing the interval between height measurements
* Interpreting growth rates measured over less than a year
How is the potential height of a child calculated?
Obtaineing mid-parental height (MPH)
How do you calculate MPH?
- Add together the father’s height and the mother’s height 2. Divide this by two
- Add 7cm to the total
In boys, height is normal +/- 10cm and in girls, +/- 8.5cm
How do you express height as a standard deviation score?
SD = (x - x*)/SD for reference population
x- child’s height
x*- mean height for that age
Describe the SDS of a child and the centile they would be grouped into
- Child/young of average height will have an SDS of 0
- Child near the 98th centile would have a SDS of about +2
- Child near the 2nd centile would have a SDS of -2
Refer to their doctor if their height:
• Falls below the 0.4th centile
• Above the 99.6th centile
• Outside of their target centile range
What do radiograph indicate about bone age?
Skeletal maturation: how much growth has taken place and how much there is left
