Growth of Lebanese infants in the first year of life.

Little published information concerning the growth characteristics of Lebanese infants is available. Woodruff (1965) noted that 80 infants receiving 'well' child care, and presumably privileged socioeconomically, had a growth pattern identical to the Iowa Growth Charts. Less privileged infants grew similarly only in the first 4 to 6 months, and subsequently their growth performance was below par. Harfouche (1966) was the first to report a longitudinal study on the height and weight of 125 Lebanese infants. These infants, however, were of families of low socioeconomic status and their growth may not represent the actual growth potential of the population. The study of infants of high socioeconomic background is probably more appropriate in this respect. The aim of this study was to document the height and weight growth of Lebanese infants from families of a high socioeconomic status through the first year of life, and to test the suitability for Lebanese infants of a well-known growth standard based on measurements of well-born, middle western American infants of northern European stock (Jackson and Kelly, 1945), commonly referred to as the Iowa Growth Charts. These measurements have been shown recently not to have appreciably changed over a period of 30 years (Jackson et al., 1964).