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Biomedical subjects

E R DeLicardie

Publications and source records attributed to E R DeLicardie.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1983

The utility of cross-sectional measurements of weight and length for age in screening for growth failure (chronic malnutrition) and clinically severe protein-energy malnutrition.

The accuracy of identifying children with growth failure and/or clinically severe protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) from a single measure of length or weight for age from birth to 36 months was determined. Growth data were treated cross-sectionally and compared with National Center for Health Statistics growth standards in order to determine the sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value of a single cross-sectional measure of weight-for-age or length-for-age in identifying children diagnosed via longitudinal records. Under 6 months of age, neither weight nor length for age was an adequate predictor of growth failure or clinical malnutrition; from 12 to 36 months, screening measures based on anthropometry were much improved. It was concluded that a single measure of weight or length for age taken close to the first birthday could identify up to 78% of the future second and third year cases of clinically severe PEM. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Body Height↗
PubMed1979

The relationship of growth failure (chronic undernutrition) to the prevalence of clinically severe protein-energy malnutrition and to growth retardation in protein-energy malnutrition.

A total of 72 of 276 children from a rural Mexican village were chronically undernourished as judged by their growth failure between 6 and 36 months of age. Fourteen of the 72 and five of the remaining 204 children developed clinically severe protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) as judged by clinical signs other than weight or length. This amounted to an 8-fold higher prevalence of PEM in the group of children with growth failure. When children were grouped into quartiles of length at 6 months by sex, quartile was not related to the subsequent occurrence of PEM or to the age when PEM developed. However, analysis indicated that the growth of children with PEM and growth failure had slowed relative to their quartiles before PEM developed; they were also retarded according to the Harvard standards. The children with PEM were then compared to others with a similar growth history (growth failure, no growth failure) who never developed PEM. PEM children did not differ significantly in over weight or length and displayed a significant difference in upper arm muscle circumference at only one age. The 14 with growth failure and PEM had poorer overall growth, including arm muscle circumference, than the five with PEM and no growth failure.

Anthropometry↗