A PC PROGRAM FOR DIAGNOSING ABNORMAL GROWTH, GROWTH VELOCITY AND ACCELERATION FROM LONGITUDINAL OBSERVATIONS

A PC program, written in GAUSS386i, implementing Zerbe's (Growth, 43 ( 1979) 263-272) procedure for diagnosis on the basis of longitudinal da ta is described, illustrated and made available to interested readers. Given longitudinal observations on N normal individuals, this techniq ue can be used to characterize normal growth, velocity and acceleratio n, and to determine whether or not a new individual can be considered normal with respect to any or all of these parameters. Missing data ar e allowed, and there is no requirement that the variable whose growth is being monitored has a normal distribution. The method and program a re illustrated using a data set with a substantial amount of missing d ata. Information on obtaining a copy of the program and hardware requi rements are given in the Appendix.