PREDICTION OF FINAL HEIGHT IN SHORT, NORMAL AND TALL CHILDREN

Measurements of final height were made on more than 4000 children in t he final grade of school in Gothenburg in 1992; at the same time, mid- parental heights were recorded. These data were combined with other in formation (sex, length of gestation, size at birth, estimated age at p eak height velocity (PHV) and height measurements made before 8 years of age) and used in a multiple regression analysis to assess the stren gth of the linear relationship between attained final height and these other potentially predictive measures of adult height. The R(2) value increased from 0.16 at birth to 0.64 when the child was 8 years old. The inclusion of mid-parental height in the regression analysis contri buted significantly to the explained variation in final height, especi ally at the earlier ages; the further addition of size at birth and ag e at PHV provides a small increase in the explained variation. The pro bability that the final height of a child will be below -2 or above +2 standard deviation scores (SDS) was assessed, based on previous SDS v alues for height when younger and on mid-parental height SDS. As a res ult of the large sample size included in the analyses, considerable co nfidence can be placed on the accurate prediction of final height valu es in the range -2.5 to +2.5 SDS.