Weight Velocity of Infants and Children of Bangladesh: A Longitudinal Study
Dr. Khurshida Pervin[1]
[1] Associate Professor & Former Head, Department of Business Administration, Prime University. Email: drpervin2012@yahoo.com
Abstract
This longitudinal study explores the weight velocity patterns among infants and children in Bangladesh from birth to four years of age. A cohort of 296 children was followed over a 0-48 month period, with weight measurements recorded every 15 days in the first year and monthly thereafter. The primary objective was to assess age-specific weight velocity trends and identify critical periods of growth acceleration and deceleration. From the percentiles, we observed that the male and female growth in weight for age, 0-48 months, was classified by percentile groups. At birth, the weight of male babies is observed to vary between 2.3 kg to 4.0 kg, with the median weight of 3.0 kg. The corresponding figures for females are 2.34 kg, 3.71 kg and 3.0 kg. This implies that, on an average, males are comparatively heavier than females at birth. The growth in weight is observed to be consistent for both males and females up to the age of 9 months for all percentile groups. In the age range of 9-12 months, there is a decline or steadiness in the growth of all children and this decline is prominent in the upper 50th percentile groups. Afterwards, growth in weight increases with a certain degree of regularity up to the age of about 24 months for both males and females. On an average, males gain about 0.5 kg of weight over females, but at the upper percentiles, females supersede the males. Again, there is a weight loss situation around the age of 30 months for males and 27 months for females with minor variations in ages for different percentile groups. At the end, we observed that the velocity of weight gain is, on an average, faster among the males than the females in general and among the upper 50th percentile groups in particular.
Keywords: pediatrics, infant, weight, growth, velocity, percentile
DOI Number: https://doi.org/10.71386/BRFJ.8.1.2024.81-19