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Recent changes in growth trajectories: a population-based cohort study of over 5 million Brazilian children born between 2001 and 2014

Santiago-Vieira, Carolina; Velasquez-Melendez, Gustavo; De Cássia Ribeiro-Silva, Rita; De Jesus Pinto, Elizabete; Barreto, Maurício L; Li, Leah; (2024) Recent changes in growth trajectories: a population-based cohort study of over 5 million Brazilian children born between 2001 and 2014. The Lancet Regional Health - Americas , 32 , Article 100721. 10.1016/j.lana.2024.100721. Green open access

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Abstract

Background: There is limited evidence on recent trends in childhood growth trajectories in Low-/middle-income countries. We investigated how age-trajectories for height and Body Mass Index (BMI) have changed among Brazilian children born in two different time periods after 2000. / Methods: We used a population-based cohort (part of the “Cohort of 100-Million Brazilians”) created by the linkage of three Brazilian administrative databases: the Cadastro Único of the Federal Government, the National System of Live Births and the National Nutritional and Food Surveillance System. We included longitudinal data on 5,750,214 children who were 3 to <10 years of age and born between 2001 and 2014 (20,209,133 observations). We applied fractional polynomial models with random-effects to estimate mean height and BMI trajectories for children. / Findings: Compared to children born in 2001–2007, the cohort born in 2008–2014 were on average taller, by a z-score of 0.15 in boys and 0.12 in girls. Their height trajectories shifted upwards, by approximately 1 cm in both sexes. Levels of BMI increased little, by a z-score of 0.06 (boys) and 0.04 (girls). Mean BMI trajectories also changed little. However, the prevalence of overweight/obesity increased between cohorts, e.g., from 26.8% to 30% in boys and 23.9%–26.6% in girls aged between 5 and <10 years. / Interpretation: An increase of 1 cm in mean height of Brazilian children during a short period indicates the improvement in maternal and child health, especially those from low-income families due to the new health and welfare policies in Brazil. Although mean BMI changed little, the prevalence of child overweight/obesity slightly increased and remained high. / Funding: This work was supported by National Council for Scientific and Technological Development – CNPq; Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – CAPES; National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre; Society for the Study of Human Biology; Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais – FAPEMIG; Departamento de Ciência e Tecnologia da Secretaria de Ciência, Tecnologia, Inovação e Complexo da Saúde do Ministério da Saúde - Decit/SECTICS/MS. The study also used resources from the Centre for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS), which receives funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, the Health Surveillance Secretariat of the Ministry of Health and the Secretariat of Science and Technology of the State of Bahia (SECTI-BA).

Type: Article
Title: Recent changes in growth trajectories: a population-based cohort study of over 5 million Brazilian children born between 2001 and 2014
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.lana.2024.100721
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lana.2024.100721
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Keywords: Body mass index, Height, Growth trajectories, Changes, Brazilian children
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10190268
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