GROWTH IN LENGTH AND WEIGHT FROM BIRTH TO 2 YEARS OF A REPRESENTATIVESAMPLE OF NETHERLANDS CHILDREN (BORN IN 1988-89) RELATED TO SOCIOECONOMIC-STATUS AND OTHER BACKGROUND CHARACTERISTICS

Of nearly 1900 live-born singletons, born from April 1988 to October 1 989 inclusive, nine measurements of length and weight have been taken between the ages of 1 and 24 months. In the first part of the study, d ifferences in attained length and weight at 1 and 2 years of age are a nalysed according to socioeconomic status (SES). Multiple regression a nalyses are used to investigate the association of SES and other backg round characteristics with length and weight. The second part focuses on the analysis of differences in linear length and weight gain in the first 2 years of life, using a two-step regression technique. At 1 an d 2 years of age, differences in attained length and weight and in len gth and weight gain according to SES are small and not significant, ex cept for the children of Mediterranean parents in the low-SES group, w ho are significantly heavier than children of all other groups and gai n significantly more in weight compared to children of Dutch parents i n the low-SES group. Of all the factors studied it appears that parent al height, birthweight, parity and ethnic descent of the parents are a ssociated with attained length and weight at 1 and 2 years of age. Of these factors, ethnic descent, however, is not associated with length gain. A small but statistically significant catch-up growth is found i n children of mothers who smoked during pregnancy.