To evaluate the child’s height development, the actual measurements of the child’s height can be compared with the local standards. The objective comparison provides a preliminary understanding of whether the child’s height development is normal, what grade it belongs to, and whether there are signs of growth disorders.
Evaluating a child’s height development involves a variety of factors and more complex statistical processing. Commonly used evaluation methods are percentile method, deviation method and index method. The so-called percentile method of height evaluation is to take out 100 boys or girls of a certain age group at random and arrange them according to the number of centimeters of height from small to large, with the small percentile value being low and the large percentile value being high.
P3 represents the 3rd percentile value, and P97 represents the 97th percentile value. Medical science classifies human growth and development into five levels based on the percentile method: >P97 for the upper level, >P75 for the middle level, P25~P75 for the middle level, and P3 for the lower level. Bai Hua, Department of Pediatrics, Lianyungang First People’s Hospital It is generally believed that children whose height is within the range of the 3rd to 97th percentile (some scholars believe it is the 10th to 90th percentile) should be considered normal. Children who are not within the above range, or children aged 4 to 12 years who grow less than 4 cm per year, are considered abnormal and should be promptly consulted and treated at a specialist hospital for further evaluation.
Children whose height is temporarily outside of the normal percentile are not necessarily abnormal. Because children’s height growth varies from early to late, it is not advisable to make premature judgments.
Some parents like to compare their children’s height with that of their peers, and therefore incorrectly conclude that their children are short or tall, which is not scientific.