Abstract

Author(s): Tarqui Mamani1, Carolina; Alvarez Dongo, Doris2; Espinoza Oriundo, Paula2

Introduction: Alterations of growth identified and treated in a timely manner will contribute to the normal development of the child.

Objectives: To describe the alterations of height in Peruvian children and adolescents.

Methods: Cross-sectional study. Probabilistic sampling, multistage stratified. The sample included 1191 conglomerates with 7914 dwellings (urban area: 4842 and rural: 3072) distributed in Peru. We evaluated 6687 participants between 5 and 19 years. Low size (T / E: 2 DE) were defined. Written informed consent was requested to parents and verbal informed consent to children ≥ 9 years.

Results: 9.3% were tall, 88.1% normal and 2.6% low. The lowest size was more frequent in adolescents aged 15 to 19 years (4.9%), in the extreme poor (4.0%), who lived in rural areas (3.8%), Sierra (3.8%) and Jungle (3.1%). High wasprevalent in boys (12.0%), adolescents aged 10 to 14 (8.9%), non-poor (11.6%), urban residents (12.6%), Metropolitan Lima (17.7%), and Coast (12.4%). The highest prevalence of low stature was found in Apurímac (7.6%), Loreto (6.4%) and Cusco (5.1%), and the high stature in Callao (23.8%), Madre de Dios (18.4%) and Lima (17.4%).

Discussion: The high stature was present in the obese and the low stature predominated in children with thinness, being consistent with the published literature.

Conclusions: The prevalence of low height was infrequent and less than one tenth of the children and adolescents presented high stature.