Abstract

Objectives
The current study aimed to determine the proxy measurements for height in children with Cerebral Palsy (CP).
Materials & Methods
In a cross-sectional descriptive study, the length/height of Nigerian children with CP was studied over eighteen months using descriptive statistics. The study subjects comprised children aged 15 months to 17 years with C P. Height/length, weight, arm span, forearm length, mid-upper arm circumference, foot length, head circumference, hip circumference, leg length, and tibia length were measured to the nearest 0.1 cm using standard procedures. The relations between segmental measurements and weight with height were investigated using linear regression.
Results
A total of 31 children were studied. The correlation between height/ length and other linear measurements has a significantly strong positive relationship. Regression analysis showed that when used singly, the weight and thigh length offered a high explanation for the height variability with little estimation error. On the other hand, weight had a lower mean difference between observed and predicted height (0.21and -0.76, respectively), with thigh length overestimating the height.
Conclusion
Weight measurement may be the preferred proxy for height in children with C P.

Keywords: Segmental length, Cerebral palsy, Motor dysfunction, Children, Nigeria, Regression analysis References

1. Carr LJ. Definition and classification of cerebral palsy. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2005; 47: 508 - 508.
2. Andrew MJ, Sullivan PB. Growth in cerebral palsy. Nutr Clin Pract. 2010; 25: 357 - 361.
3. Okeke IB, Ojinnaka NC. Nutritional status of children with cerebral palsy in enugu nigeria. Eur J Sci Res. 2010; 39: 505 - 513.
4. Hillesund E, Skranes J, Trygg KU, Bøhmer T. Micronutrient status in children with cerebral palsy. Acta Paediatr 2007; 96: 1195 - 1198.
5. Hung JW, Hsu TJ, Wu PC, Leong CP. Risk factors of undernutrition in children with spastic cerebral palsy. Chang Gung Med J. 2003; 26: 425 - 432.
6. Kuperminc MN, Stevenson RD. Growth and nutrition disorders in children with cerebral palsy. Dev Disabil Res Rev. 2008; 14: 137 - 146.
7. Cronk CE, Stallings VA. Growth in children with cerebral palsy. Ment Retard Dev Disabil Res Rev. 1997; 3: 129 - 137.
8. Day SM. Improving growth charts for children and adolescents with cerebral palsy through evidence-based clinical practice. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2010; 52: 793.
9. Fung EB, Samson-Fang L, Stallings VA, Conaway M, Liptak G, Henderson RC, et al. Feeding dysfunction is associated with poor growth and health status in children with cerebral palsy. J Am Diet Assoc. 2002; 102: 361 - 368.
10. Socrates C, Grantham-McGregor SM, Harknett SG, Seal AJ. Poor nutrition is a serious problem in children with cerebral palsy in palawan, the philippines. Int J Rehabil Res. 2000; 23: 177 - 184.
11. Froehlich-Grobe K, Nary DE, Van Sciver A, Lee J, Little TD. Measuring height without a stadiometer: Empirical investigation of four height estimates among wheelchair users. Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2011; 90: 658 - 666.
12. Tomoum HY, Badawy NB, Hassan NE, Alian KM. Anthropometry and body composition analysis in children with cerebral palsy. Clin Nutr. 2010; 29: 477 - 481.
13. Le Roy O C, Rebollo G MJ, Moraga M F, Díaz Sm X, Castillo-Durán C. Nutrition of children with selected neurological illnesses. An update. Nutrición del niño con enfermedades neurológicas prevalentes. 2010; 81: 103 - 113.
14. Blair E, Watson L. Epidemiology of cerebral palsy. Semin Fetal Neonatal Med 2006; 11: 117 – 125
15. Jones MW, Morgan E, Shelton JE, Thorogood C. Cerebral palsy: Introduction and diagnosis (part i). J Pediatr Health Care. 2007; 21: 146 - 152
16. Hsieh F, Bloch DA, Larsen MD. A simple method of sample size calculation for linear and logistic regression. Stat Med. 1998; 17: 1623 - 1634.
17. Yousafzai AK, Filteau SM, Wirz SL, Cole TJ. Comparison of armspan, arm length and tibia length as predictors of actual height of disabled and nondisabled children in dharavi, mumbai, india. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2003; 57: 1230 - 1234.
18. WHO: Training Course on Child Growth Assessment: Measuring a Child’s Growth Available from: http://www.who.int/childgrowth/training/en; Accessed: 17th November 2020
19. Gauld LM, Kappers J, Carlin JB, Robertson CF. Height prediction from ulna length. Dev Med Child Neurol 2004;46:475 - 480
20. Ilayperuma I, Nanayakkara G, Palahepitiya N. A model for the estimation of personal stature from the length of forearm. Int J Morphol. 2010; 28: 1081 - 1086;
21. National Center for Health Statistics (US) Plan and Operation of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988–94. Hyattsville, Md, USA: National Center for Health Statistics (US); 1988. (Number 32 in Vital and Health Statistics, Series 1: Programs and Collection Procedures
22. Fisher RA. The arrangement of field experiments. 1926
23. Olusanya BO, Renner JK. Predictors of growth velocity in early infancy in a resource-poor setting. Early Hum Dev. 2011; 87: 647 - 652.
24. Joosten KFM, Hulst JM. Malnutrition in pediatric hospital patients: Current issues. Nutritio 2011; 27: 133 - 137
25. Adamu AS, Sabo UA, Gwarzo GD, Belonwu RO. Nutritional status in cerebral palsy: A Cross-sectional comparative survey of children in Kano, Nigeria. Niger Postgrad Med J 2018; 25 (1): 56 - 60.
26. Adekoje TO, Ibeabuchi MN, Lesi FE. Anthropometry of children with cerebral palsy at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. J Clin Sci 2016; 13: 96 104.
27. Chong SK. Gastrointestinal problems in the handicapped child. Curr Opin Pediatr 2001; 13: 441 446.
28. Stevenson RD. Use of segmental measures to estimate stature in children with cerebral palsy. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1995; 149: 658 - 662
29. Canda A. Stature estimation from body segment lengths in young adults—application to people with physical disabilities. J Physiol Anthropol. 2009; 28: 71 - 82
30. Neyestani TR, Dad-khah M, Haidari H, Zowghi T, Maddah M, Nematy M, et al. Determination of the actual height predictors in iranian healthy children. Acta Med Iran. 2011;49 (3): 173 - 178.
31. Canda A. Stature estimation from body segment lengths in young adults—application to people with physical disabilities. J Physiol Anthropol. 2009; 28:71 - 82.
32. Turan S, Bereket A, Omar A, Berber M, Ozen A, Bekiroglu N. Upper segment/lower segment ratio and armspan-height difference in healthy turkish children. Acta Paediatr. 2005;94: 407 - 413
33. Datta Banik S. Arm span as a proxy measure for height and estimation of nutritional status: A study among dhimals of darjeeling in west bengal india. Ann Hum Biol. 2011; 38 (6): 728 - 735
34. Canda A. Stature estimation from body segment lengths in young adults—application to people with physical disabilities. J Physiol Anthropol. 2009; 28: 71 - 82
35. Miller F, Koreska J. Height measurement of patients with neuromuscular disease and contractures. Dev Med Child Neurol. 1992; 34: 55 - 60