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R Largo

Publications and source records attributed to R Largo.

44 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Short-term and long-term variability of standard deviation scores for size in children.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: To quantify long-term and short-term variability in the standard deviation scores (SDS's) for six skeletal size variables and body mass index (BMI) in children and to compare average values of these quantities for boys with those of girls and to make comparisons across variables. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: The analysis is based on measurements made regularly for 120 boys and 112 girls from 1 month until 20 years for seven variables (standing height, sitting height, leg height, arm length, biiliac width, bihumeral width and BMI) as part of the first Zurich longitudinal growth study. Variation in these scores due to variablity in the timing of the pubertal spurt (PS) is separated out by rescaling the age axis on an individual basis and comparing children with the same developmental age rather than the same chronological age. For a given child, the relationship between the value of its SDS and age is modelled as the sum of an arbitrary (child dependent) smooth function plus an error term. The long-term variability for that child is defined to be the mean square of the departures of this smooth function from its mean level while the short-term variability is defined to be the variance of the error term. MAIN OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Girls' SDS scores have significantly more long-term variability than those of boys, while there is no significant difference between the sexes for short-term variability. Bihumeral width, BMI and sitting height have significantly more long-term variation than the other variables. Bihumeral width and BMI have the largest short-term variability and standing height has the smallest. Correlations between long-term variability and adult size and timing and intensity of the PS were small. CONCLUSIONS: A useful way of assessing long-term and short-term variability of SDS's, which is widely applicable has been described and applied to data relating to the growth of children. The results of this analysis are intriguing. Why is the underlying growth process of girls more variable than that of boys? Differences across skeletal parameters are also interesting and deserve further consideration.

Body Height↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Velocity and acceleration of height growth using kernel estimation.

A method is introduced for estimating acceleration, velocity and distance of longitudinal growth curves and it is illustrated by analysing human height growth. This approach, called kernel estimation, belongs to the class of smoothing methods and does not assume an a priori fixed functional model, and not even that one and the same model is applicable for all children. The examples presented show that acceleration curves might allow a better quantification of the mid-growth spurt (MS) and a more differentiated analysis of the pubertal spurt (PS). Accelerations are prone to follow random variations present in the data, and parameters defined in terms of acceleration are, therefore, validated by a comparison with parameters defined in terms of velocity. Our non-parametric-curve-fitting approach is also compared with parametric fitting via a model suggested by Preece and Baines (1978).

Body Height↗
PubMedDate not supplied

An analysis of the mid-growth and adolescent spurts of height based on acceleration.

Height growth between four weeks and 20 years of 45 boys and 45 girls from the Zürich Longitudinal Growth Study (1955-1976) was analysed using kernel estimates. Timings of the mid-growth spurt (MS) and of the pubertal spurt (PS) were determined in an automatic way from the individual acceleration curves, together with height, percentage of height, velocity and acceleration at these ages. The small mid-growth spurt is a consistent phenomenon, peaking at 6.4 years (M,F) in acceleration and at 7.7 years (M) and 7.5 years (F) in velocity. There are no significant sex differences in its intensity. In girls, the PS follows in close succession to the MS; in boys there is a substantial period in between. In addition to the age of peak height velocity, ages of onset, maximal acceleration and end of the PS are defined. Sex differences in timing and size of the pubertal peak previously established were again verified. New results relate to the asymmetry of the PS, which is more pronounced in girls, and to sex differences in intensity and duration of the first rising phase of the PS. After this phase, boys and girls do not differ in timing but only in the intensity of deceleration.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Human height growth: correlational and multivariate structure of velocity and acceleration.

In this paper the correlations between parameters quantifying the mid-growth spurt (MS) and the pubertal spurt (PS) of height are explored. These parameters are defined in individual acceleration, velocity, and distance curves, which are obtained via kernel estimates as previously introduced. The MS proves to be a phenomenon largely independent of the PS. Intensity, timing, and duration of the PS are also independent mechanisms of growth and neither of them influences adult height in an appreciable way. Adult height depends mostly on pre-adolescent velocity. Short-, medium- and long-term regulatory mechanisms for explaining height growth are considered. For short-term mechanisms, acceleration plays a crucial role.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A method for determining the dynamics and intensity of average growth.

A new statistical method is presented for determining an average growth curve which is valid in the sense of representing both the average dynamic, or tempo, and the average intensity of the growth process studied. In this context, growth curve means either distance, velocity or acceleration curve. The principal idea is to shift individual curves continuously (and non-linearly) in age to an average developmental age scale. Since the resulting curves represent the typical shape rather than individual variations of it, they are of interest for comparisons of different variables of boys and girls and of subgroups. The method is illustrated with longitudinal growth data from the first Zurich longitudinal study.

Body Height↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The dynamics of growth of width in distance, velocity and acceleration.

In this paper the dynamics and intensity of the growth of bihumeral and biiliac width and of humerus and femur bicondylar diameter are studied and compared, and sex differences are established. The analysis is based on a newly introduced statistical tool, the structural average curve for distance, velocity and acceleration. It accounts for individual developmental tempo and allows pooling data for a sample of subjects. In all four variables studied, a sharp decline in velocity after birth is followed by a more gradual decline in infancy and childhood. A mid-growth spurt (MS) at about age 7 can be found in all variables, of about equal timing and intensity for the two sexes. The pubertal spurt (PS) is earlier for girls, and less intense except for biiliac width. The study shows a characteristic pattern across variables of width regarding the intensity of growth in different periods. The accentuated MS and PS for bihumeral width, contrasting with relatively early and small PS for the bicondylar width of femur, are remarkable.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Measures of body mass and of obesity from infancy to adulthood and their appropriate transformation.

In this paper we investigate first the choice of an appropriate index of body mass. The traditional indices weight/height (W/H), W/H2 and W/H3 are compared, as well as an approach due to Cole (1986) making the index W/Hp age-dependent, i.e. by allowing the power p to depend on age. While there may be no perfect index reflecting over- and underweight--irrespective of height and width--the Quetelet index W/H2 turned out to be a reasonable index from childhood to adulthood. Second, we study the development of the body mass index W/H2 longitudinally from birth onwards, based on structural average distance, velocity and acceleration curves. As a third topic, transformations for obtaining an approximate normal distribution for W/H2, weight and skinfolds are compared. The usual log-transformation turned out to be unsatisfactory. While for height and arm skinfolds a transformation -1/square root of x performs rather well across age and sex, a transformation -1/x is more appropriate for trunk skinfolds and W/H2.

Age Factors↗