Abstract
BACKGROUND—Growth monitoring consists of routine measurements to detect abnormal growth, combined with some action when this is detected. It aims to improve nutrition, reduce the risk of death or inadequate nutrition, help educate carers, and lead to early referral for conditions manifest by growth disorders. As primary care workers world wide invest time in this activity, evidence for its benefits and harms was sort. INCLUSION CRITERIA—Studies: randomised or quasi-randomised controlled trials of growth monitoring. Interventions: regular growth monitoring, combined with some intervention targeted at abnormal growth, compared with controls. Outcomes: anthropometric measures; referrals to primary and specialist care, or community services; maternal knowledge, anxiety, and satisfaction; child morbidity and mortality. COMPARISONS—Routine growth monitoring compared with no routine growth monitoring; routine growth monitoring by plotting onto a standard chart compared with monitoring with no chart. SEARCH STRATEGY—Cochrane controlled trials register; World Health Organisation and World Bank publications; contact with specialist community paediatricians working in the field. RESULTS—Two trials met the inclusion criteria. One compared growth monitoring with no growth monitoring, in a cluster randomised trial nested in a nutritional intervention programme, and detected no difference in nutritional outcomes between the two groups. Another trial compared growth monitoring with and without a standard chart, measuring maternal knowledge of women about nutrition. It showed small numerical differences in test scores. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS—Current policies appear to be based on the opinion that investment in the activity has worthwhile health benefits, and does no harm. No reliable evidence was found to support or refute this.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (121.6 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Black M. M., Dubowitz H., Hutcheson J., Berenson-Howard J., Starr R. H., Jr A randomized clinical trial of home intervention for children with failure to thrive. Pediatrics. 1995 Jun;95(6):807–814. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Casiro O. G., McKenzie M. E., McFadyen L., Shapiro C., Seshia M. M., MacDonald N., Moffatt M., Cheang M. S. Earlier discharge with community-based intervention for low birth weight infants: a randomized trial. Pediatrics. 1993 Jul;92(1):128–134. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Davies D. P., Williams T. Is weighing babies in clinics worth while? Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1983 Mar 12;286(6368):860–863. doi: 10.1136/bmj.286.6368.860. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Davies D. P., Williams T. Is weighing babies in clinics worth while? Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1983 Mar 12;286(6368):860–863. doi: 10.1136/bmj.286.6368.860. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- George S. M., Latham M. C., Abel R., Ethirajan N., Frongillo E. A., Jr Evaluation of effectiveness of good growth monitoring in south Indian villages. Lancet. 1993 Aug 7;342(8867):348–352. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(93)91479-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Meegan M., Morley D. C., Brown R. Child weighing by the unschooled: a report of a controlled study of growth monitoring over 12 months of Maasai children using direct recording scales. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 1994 Nov-Dec;88(6):635–637. doi: 10.1016/0035-9203(94)90202-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Reid J. The role of maternal and child health clinics in education and prevention: a case study from Papua New Guinea. Soc Sci Med. 1984;19(3):291–303. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(84)90220-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Ruel M. T., Pelletier D. L., Habicht J. P., Mason J. B., Chobokoane C. S., Maruping A. P. Comparison of mothers' understanding of two child growth charts in Lesotho. Bull World Health Organ. 1990;68(4):483–491. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Senanayake M. P., Gunawardena M. K., Peiris D. S. Maternal comprehension of two growth monitoring charts in Sri Lanka. Arch Dis Child. 1997 Apr;76(4):359–361. doi: 10.1136/adc.76.4.359. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Wright C. M., Callum J., Birks E., Jarvis S. Effect of community based management in failure to thrive: randomised controlled trial. BMJ. 1998 Aug 29;317(7158):571–574. doi: 10.1136/bmj.317.7158.571. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]