HEAD CIRCUMFERENCE FOR MEXICAN-AMERICAN INFANTS AND YOUNG-CHILDREN FROM THE HISPANIC HEALTH AND NUTRITION EXAMINATION SURVEY (HHANES 1982-1984) - COMPARISONS WITH WHITES AND BLACKS FROM NHANES-II (1976-1980)
R. Wellens et al., HEAD CIRCUMFERENCE FOR MEXICAN-AMERICAN INFANTS AND YOUNG-CHILDREN FROM THE HISPANIC HEALTH AND NUTRITION EXAMINATION SURVEY (HHANES 1982-1984) - COMPARISONS WITH WHITES AND BLACKS FROM NHANES-II (1976-1980), American journal of human biology, 7(2), 1995, pp. 255-263
This study presents descriptive statistics for head circumference in M
exican American children 6 months to 7 years of age using data from th
e Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (HHANES, 1982-1984)
and compares these statistics with national estimates of head circumf
erence for non-Hispanic White children and non-Hispanic Black children
from the Second National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHA
NES II, 1976-1980). Head circumference was measured in the same standa
rdized fashion in the two surveys. The patterns of change with age in
means and in empirical percentiles were similar for both genders and f
or all three ethnic groups. Values for head circumference increased wi
th age, but the rate of increase became less as age advanced. Analyses
indicated that at 1, 2, and 4 years of age, mean values for head circ
umferences for non-Hispanic White boys were significantly larger than
those for Mexican American boys. The differences in mean values for he
ad circumferences ranged from 0.7 to 1.1 cm. Because ethnic difference
s in head circumferences are small in magnitude, ethnic-specific sets
of reference data for head circumference are not needed for clinical e
valuation of Mexican Americans, non-Hispanic Whites, and non-Hispanic
Blacks. Further analyses may be necessary when additional information
from NHANES III allows the calculation of the 5th and 95th percentiles
for Black and Mexican American children with small confidence limits.
(C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.