Assessment of length data from preschool children for use in epidemiological research
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess the quality of the length data from a large national nutrition survey
for use in an investigation into the relationship between
indicators of macro level food availability and child
stature. The lengths and weights of children from a 5%
subsample of clusters from the Third Kenyan Child
Nutrition Survey were remeasured between two and five
months after the initial survey. A comparison of the
Z-scores of length from the two measurements on the same
children revealed a positive bias overall of .10 Z-score
units (or approximately .5 cm) in the original length
measurements in comparison to the resurvey measurements.
Bias in length also showed a curvilinear relationship with
age, with three-year-olds showing the largest bias at +.31
Z-score units (or approximately 3.0 cm). The results of
the investigation in~ ,random errors in length data were
less clear due in part to the incorporation of growth
related variation. However"a comparison of the standard
deviations from the kenyan-length data with the standard deviations from the WHO growth standards indicated a much
higher non-nutritional variation-in Kenyan length data.
Citation
Ph.D ThesisPublisher
Cornell University