Anthropometric Indicators of the Elementary School Students in Yazd: A Comparison with WHO Standards

Background: Application of growth indicators taken from other countries can cause misdiagnosis of underweight and stunting. In this study we compared the trend of anthropometric growth indicators between the elementary school students of Yazd with the international standards. Methods: The study population of this retrospective cohort study consisted of 591 primary school children in Yazd (285 girls and 306 boys) who were selected by multistage random sampling. The studied indicators were physical growth height, weight and body mass index (BMI) recorded in the participants' health certificate within the five years of primary school education. Furthermore, we compared the results with the WHO standards. Results: The 3rd and 50th weight-for-age percentiles were roughly compatible with the WHO percentiles, but the 97th percentile was higher than it. All height-for-age percentiles for boys and girls, except for those who were 11 years, were higher than the WHO percentiles. The 3rd and 50th BMI percentiles for girls up to seven years of age were lower than the WHO percentiles; whereas, the 50th percentile for participants who aged seven years and older and the 97th percentile, except for those who aged 11 years, were higher than the WHO percentiles. The 3rd and 50th BMI percentiles for boys up to nine years of age were lower than the WHO percentiles, but the 50th percentile for those who aged nine years and over as well as the 97th percentile for all ages were higher than the WHO percentiles. Conclusion: The weight and BMI indicators obtained in this study were different from the WHO standards. This highlights the need for development and use of native reference curves regarding the anthropometric indicators for children in Iran.