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KMID : 0358119890150010033
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Journal of the Korean Public Health Association
1989 Volume.15 No. 1 p.33 ~ p.41
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A STUDY OF THE GROWTH PATTERN OF CHILDREN IN LOW-INCOME CLASS AND THE SELECTION OF THE GROWTH REFERENCE IN KOREA.
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文玄卿/Moon, HyunKyung
정해랑/宋凡鎬/朴惠蓮/Chung, Haerang/Song, Bumho/Park, Haeryun
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Abstract
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One of the fundamental, but controversial issues in evaluating the growth patterns of children in developing countries has been whether or not the application of the uniform growth reference worldwide is justifiable and advisable. The prevailing view seems to have been that it can be applied to children of any ethnic group, since the genetic origin does not make much difference in child´s growth. This view has recently been challenged by some scholars. Noting that when the growth performances of children of some ethnic group, particularly of Asiatic origin, were compared to the NCHS growth standard, they displayed a consistent, and sizable growth faltering from the second year after birth. It was suggested that the growth faltering should be attributed to their physiological difference rather than nutritional inadequacy or poor nutritional environment, and that it is to blame for the smaller adult size of Asiatic peoples.
When one compares the Korean growth standard with the NCHS growth curve, he can draw the same conclusion. The growth standards set up in 1966, 1975, and 198 received a continued upward readjustment, narrowing the overall gap between them and the NCHS standards in corresponding years. But all bhe three Korean growth standards are the same in that they recognize ´the growth faltering starting 6 to 7 months after birth. For example, the Korean weight and height standards for the period of 6 months after birth amount to the 70-90th percentile of the NCHS standard, while those at´e the end of the two-year after birth belong to the 30-50th percentile.
The result of a study conducted by the Korea Advanced Food Research Institute in 1987 for the sample of 679 infants taken from three different regions (first, a major city, Daejon
;,second, a minor city, Chunchon ; third, a rural area, Chunsong county) seems to support the theory. The study found that the z-scores of both"-weight and height of Korean children from 2-3 months after birth were consistently faltering and size of the faltering reached about 2 s.d. for about one half years when analyzed based on the NHCS standard. When the data was compared to the Korean standard, however, the z-scores of both weight and height of them were found to be increasing in the normal range for 3-4 months thereafter and begin to fall again from around 7NS*months after birth, the time of starting weaning generally in Korea-,
These facts may well lead us to believe that genetic difference matters, and that the Korean standard, rather than the NCHS standard, can provide us with more accurate information about and safer assessment of the nutritional status and growth performance of Korean children.
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KEYWORD
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