Height and body mass index distribution in children and adolescents with and without spina bifida

Objective: Children with spina bifida (SB) are at risk for stunting and overweight. However, height and Body Mass Index (BMI) z-score distribution in children and adolescents with SB are unclear. The aim of this study was to examine height and BMI z-score distribution in Brazilian children and adolescents with and without SB. This study further aimed to examine whether height and BMI z-scores differ between individuals with and without SB. Method: This study included 101 participants (SB: n = 18; non-SB: n = 83, aged 7-16 years). The World Health Organization (WHO) AnthroPlus software was used to calculate height and BMI zscores. AnthroPlus z-score distribution graphs were used to examine individual z-scores based on the 2007 WHO normal distribution curve. Effects of the group (SB vs non-SB) on height and BMI zscores were examined with sequential regression. Results: In the WHO distribution graph analysis, height z-scores of participants with SB were slightly left-shifted compared to the WHO normal distribution curve. In the regression analysis, group (SB vs non-SB) was a significant predictor of height z-scores after controlling for sex and age (DR2 = 0.064, p = 0.010). BMI z-scores of participants with SB were right-shifted compared to the WHO normal curve. However, there was no contribution of the group to BMI z-scores (DR2 = 0.011, p = 0.301). Conclusions: These findings suggest that Brazilian children and adolescents with SB may be at risk for reduced height and increased BMI. (c) 2023 Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. on behalf of Sociedade Brasileira de Pediatria. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/4.0/).