Hello everyone, pay attention to the height of children, from now on. This column will regularly reprint the "Children's Height And Micro Classroom" by Former Chunqing, Chief Physician of the Department of Endocrinology, Aviation General Hospital of China Medical University. It is hoped that the easy-to-understand and in-depth "micro-classroom" can help children achieve the ideal adult height as much as possible.
What are the long-term trends in growth and development?
Yuan Chunqing: Through long-term observation, it has been found that most of the children are now taller than their father or mother, and their sexual maturity is gradually advancing. In fact, as early as the late 19th century, European and American scholars found that children's height is higher than that of one generation, and sexual development, especially the phenomenon of girls' menarche, is gradually advanced from the comparison of data on growth and development plans for one or two hundred years, which is known as the long-term trend of growth and development plans.
Long-term trends in growth and development are mainly manifested in the growth of height and weight. For example, in Western European countries, the average height of newborns in the first half of the 20th century increased from 50 cm to 53 cm, and the weight increased from 3150 g to 3300 g.
From 1880 to 1950, the average height of children aged 5 to 7 years increased by 10 centimeters, and the height of adults today is 9.2 centimeters higher than that of 100 years ago, according to general scholars. Every 10 years children's height increased by 1 cm, but in recent years, the accelerated growth of children in many countries has long exceeded this scale, 1975 ~ 1995 China's children, adolescent growth and development survey found that the growth of children in China is in a long-term acceleration stage, 1 to 7 years old height on average 10 years growth of 1.3 cm, 7 to 18 years old height on average 10 years growth of 2.2 cm. Accelerated maturation leads to an earlier puberty, i.e. an advance in the time to reach the final height of adulthood. The age at which men reached their final height in the early 20th century was 23 years old, and now it is advanced to 17 years old.
The age of menarche is the most obvious feature of the long-term trend, with Western European countries advancing from 17 years in the 20th century to 13 years old, about 4 months earlier every 10 years. The age of menarche in 1962 was 14.2 years old for girls in urban Beijing, 12.6 years old in 1985, and 1.54 years earlier in 23 years, with an average of 0.67 years earlier every 10 years.
Similarly, the eruption of teeth in children also shows a tendency to advance, especially permanent teeth. Today, children's permanent teeth erupt 4 to 12 months earlier than before. At the end of the 20th century, children's first teeth generally erupted at the age of 6, and most children are now 6 to 9 months earlier than they were.
The reasons for the long-term trends in growth and development are still not well understood. Some studies believe that it may be related to the improvement of nutrition and living environment, the control of various diseases, so that human production can maximize its genetic potential.
But the long-term growth trend is impossible to grow indefinitely. At present, in economically developed countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, the height growth has basically stagnated, and there is no obvious sign of menarche. This indicates that the height of these populations has reached the maximum value of growth and development given by genetics, so their average height has gradually stabilized.
Expert Profiles
Former Chunqing Chief Physician, Aviation General Hospital, China Medical University
Graduated from Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, he has worked in pediatrics and internal medicine in two large tertiary hospitals, and was the vice president of the Aviation General Hospital.
Engaged in clinical and medical management for more than 30 years, in the past 10 years, he has focused on children's height management, and has accumulated a lot of clinical experience in growth retardation, short stature, early development, precocious puberty, bone age evaluation, weight management and other aspects.
Committed to helping children achieve their full potential and achieve their ideal height to the greatest extent possible, he has been working in the field of children's height for many years and leading the team to continuously explore and research.
On-call information
Aviation General Hospital : Sunday morning special needs outpatient clinic
Aviation General Hospital Aviation Materials Hospital Outpatient Department: Tuesday, Thursday all day specialist clinic
Source: Public Health News (Shoukang Network)