Changing curves. Monitoring growth of children and adolescents in The Netherlands

Background: Monitoring human growth is important. It is used to detection of abnormal growth trajectories of children, which may reflect nutritional problems or underlying illness. In a larger population, it can provide information about the health status of this population, for example the prevalence of overweight and obesity, or the mean height. In The Netherlands, national growth studies have been carried out every 10 to 15 years since 1955. These large, nationwide studies allow comparison of height and weight of Dutch children over time. Since 1997, the growth studies also focus on Turkish... Mehr ...