Original ArticlesEffect of Adjusting for Tanner Stage Age on Prevalence of Short and Tall Stature of Youths in the United States
Section snippets
Methods
We performed secondary data analyses of anthropometric and Tanner staging data of US children ages 8-18 years from National Health and Nutrition Examinations Survey cycle 1988-1994 (NHANES III),11 which is a complex cross-sectional survey design (multistage sampling) of US noninstitutionalized civilians. The anthropometric variables used in this study (weight, height) were measured by trained technicians following standardized protocols.12 The key inclusion criterion was the availability of
Results
Mean age of the participants was 14.3 years for both sexes (Table I) with a range of 8-18 years. There were no pooled mean race-ethnicity differences for weight, height, and BMI. In terms of population maturation tempo, only 3%-8% of all participants were considered early “bloomers” based on their age being less than the US published national timing estimates by Sun et al, for their sex/race-ethnic population median age-at-entry into Tanner stage II. The cohort was generally in good health with
Discussion
Our study describes a model, which uses TSAHAZ to apply meaningful pubertal timing modifications to height data that critically assesses stature classification of tall or short. Through this model, specialized growth charts adjusted for pubertal status can be generated allowing the clinician to be guided by reference data rather than estimation.
Our study found in a cohort of US youths 8-18 years of age that TSAHAZ relative to CAHAZ impacted population prevalence of anthropometric indicators of
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Adjusting for Pubertal Status Reduces Overweight and Obesity Prevalence in the United States
2021, Journal of PediatricsCitation Excerpt :This may be because Mexican American youths are more likely to be misclassified as short and tend to be shorter and heavier for their height.2,37 In our previous study evaluating the effect of Tanner stage adjustment on short/tall stature prevalence, among “early maturers”, Mexican American youths were 45%-60% more likely to be classified as short compared with non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black youths; however, after pubertal adjustment, there were no significant differences in short stature prevalence among the 3 groups.3 The apparent more pronounced misclassification of short stature in Mexican American youths compared with non-Hispanic black and non-Hispanic white youths, in conjunction with how BMI is calculated (kg/m2), suggests that pubertal status adjustments could have a greater impact on overweight/obesity prevalence in Mexican American youths compared with their counterparts.
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B.S.M. is a consultant for AbbVie, Ascendis, Ferring, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Sandoz, and Versartis and has received research support from Alexion, Armagen, Ascendis, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Genentech, Novo Nordisk, Sandoz, Sangamo, Sanofi Genzyme, Shire, Tolmar, Ultragenyx, and Versartis. The other authors declare no conflicts of interest.