Segmental in healthy children evaluation of length from extremity long term and cerebral palside application

ABSTRACT In this study, it was aimed to develop estimated height equations from anthropometric measurements of extremities in healthy Turkish children and also to evaluate children with cerebral palsy (CP) in terms of malnutrition. This study was conducted on 80 CP children aged between 6 and 18 who were to refered Inonu University Turgut Özal Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics and 1117 healthy children studying at nine schools (3 primary schools, 3 secondary schools and 3 high schools) in Malatya province. All children participating in the study were evaluated by measuring age, height, body weight, forearm, upper arm, total upper extremity, lower leg, thigh, knee height, total lower extremity length, middle arm circumference, triceps and subscapular skin thickness. Patients were shown to have lower weight, height, BMI percentiles and z scores (P <0.01) compared to healthy matched controls. There was no significant difference between patient group and the matched control group only in terms of BGA percentage (P = 0.955). The only significant determinant for height was the TAEU (R2 = 0.983, including 98,3% of children) in the total healthy group of children (total of girls and boys) followed by the thigh (R2 = 0.962) and TUEU (R2 = 0.951) . As a result, all anthropometric variables in healthy children were positively correlated with one another. However, in children with CP, moderate positive correlations were found between the middle arm circumference and other anthropometric measurements; weak positive correlations were found between subscapular thickness and other anthropometric measurements. In addition, the height calculation formulas developed by linear regression from the length obtained by single extremity or segmental measurement were calculated to include 85-98,3% (R2) of healting individuals whereas formulas were obtained to include only 80-82,7% in children with CP. Key words: Cerebral palsy, growth, anthropometric measurements