Construction of growth patterns using the LMS model for Ecuadorian children and adolescents aged 5 to 18 years
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29076/issn.2602-8360vol10iss18.2026pp118-129pKeywords:
children, adolescents, height, weight, growth curves, LMS method, Ecuador, growth referencesAbstract
Growth curves are a useful graphical tool for evaluating the growth patterns of groups of children and individuals. The objective of this study was to develop appropriate growth reference curves for Ecuadorian children and adolescents. The data for this cross-sectional study were collected from the database of the National Institute of Statistics and Census of Ecuador (INEC), including 20,532 healthy subjects (10,209 girls and 10,323 boys) from multiple cities and areas (urban and rural) of the country. Smoothed percentile curves were estimated using the LMS method for height (cm) and weight (kg). Smoothed percentile curves for height and weight increase with age in both sexes. Girls have an earlier peak pubertal velocity (10–12 years), while boys show it between 12 and 14 years. At age 14, boys' height values significantly exceed those of girls. This study showed discrepancies for certain age groups when comparing median height and weight values with those of the WHO, NCHS, and Colombian references, with Ecuadorian children and adolescents consistently lower than these references, especially from age 10 onwards. The maximum difference with the WHO reference reaches −10.2 cm in boys and −9.7 cm in girls at age 18. The smoothed percentile curves for height and weight will be useful for assessing the overall growth of Ecuadorian children and adolescents, and should be adopted in national pediatric clinical practice to replace international references that systematically overestimate the prevalence of growth disorders in this population.
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