Growth Patterns of First-Generation Southeast Asian Americans From Birth to 5 Years of Age

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare patterns of growth (height, weight, occipitofrontal circumference) of Hmong, Lao, and white children conceived and born in the United States.

Methods: The study design involved a retrospective review of longitudinal cohorts from clinic records. Participants included 146 white, 112 Hmong, and 49 Lao children on whom data were collected from birth to 5 years of age. All were patients of a community clinic in a poor urban neighborhood. The study included children whose mothers conceived and received all prenatal care in the United States and gave birth in Minnesota during a 10-year period. Measurements on family characteristics, height, weight, and occipitofrontal circumference were obtained.

Results: The white children generally approximate the medians of national (National Center for Health Statistics [NCHS]) reference data. Lao children (especially boys) are found to be short and proportionately light relative to reference data. Hmong children are found to be short relative to reference data but are disproportionately heavier, so that weight-for-height is considerably higher than reference data. In Hmong girls, mean weight-for-height z scores increase from -0.5 z at birth to 1.26 z at 5 years, an average increase of 0.31 z per year.

Conclusions: Lao and Hmong children conceived and born in the United States continue to have short stature (10th to 25th percentile). Hmong children have evidence of early overweight that is distinctive when compared with Lao and white counterparts.