Worldwide timing of growth faltering: Implications for nutritional interventions

Objective. It is widely assumed that growth faltering starts at around 3 mo nths of age, but there has been no systematic assessment of its timing usin g representative national datasets from a variety of countries. Methodology. The World Health Organization Global Database on Child Growth and Malnutrition includes the results of 39 nationally representative datas ets from recent surveys in developing countries. Based on these data, mean z scores of weight for age, length/height for age, and weight for length/he ight were compared with the National Center for Health Statistics and Cambr idge growth references, for children younger than 60 months. Results. Mean weights start to falter at about 3 months of age and decline rapidly until about 12 months, with a markedly slower decline until about 1 8 to 19 months and a catch-up pattern after that. Growth faltering in weigh t for length/height is restricted to the first 15 months of life, followed by rapid improvement. For length/height for age, the global mean is surpris ingly close to National Center for Health Statistics and Cambridge referenc es at birth, but faltering starts immediately afterward, lasting well into the third year. Conclusions. These findings highlight the need for prenatal and early life interventions to prevent growth failure.