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Growth Charts of Length and Height from Birth to Six Years of Age in Japanese Triplets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2012

Yoshie Yokoyama*
Affiliation:
Department of Community Health Nursing, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan. [email protected]
Masako Sugimoto
Affiliation:
Nishinomiya City Public Health Center, Nishinomiya, Japan.
Karri Silventoinen
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Janne Pitkäniemi
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Jaakko Kaprio
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Mental Health and Alcohol Research, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland.
*
*Address for correspondence: Yoshie Yokoyama, Department of Community Health Nursing, Osaka City University, 1-5-17 Asahi-machi, Abeno-ku, Osaka 545-0051, Japan.

Abstract

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We analyzed the characteristics associated with the growth in length and height of Japanese triplets from birth to 6 years of age and present the growth charts for them. The study included 354 mothers and their 1,061 triplet children, who were born between 1978 and 2006. Data were collected through a mailed questionnaire sent to the mothers asking for information recorded in medical records. For these births, data on triplets' length and height growth, gestational age, sex, parity, and maternal age at delivery were obtained from records in the Maternal and Child Health Handbooks, which is provided by the authorities after a report of pregnancy. Birth length showed the strongest contribution to height of triplets from 1 to 6 years of age. In addition, birthweight was also a significant contributing factor to height from 1 to 3 years of age. Compared to the 50th percentile of the growth standard for the general population of Japan, the length and height deficit of the triplets was approximately 15% at birth (male, –7.0 cm; female, –7.0 cm), decreased within the first year of age, and fluctuated between 2 and 5% until 6 years of age (male, –3.7 cm; female, –3.3 cm). In conclusion, triplets have lower birth length and subsequent height than singletons. In spite of the catch-up growth during the first year of life, they are behind singletons even in mid-childhood. This study provides height growth curves for triplets.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009