Assessment of child and adolescent growth and development

Regular monitoring and qualified growth assessments provide the opportunity to individually assess the physical and mental development of children and adolescents as well as their health and nutritional status. Early recognition of deviations in a child’s physical characteristics from the expected values common in the general population can be indicative of the presence of many diseases, often before clinical manifestations of the disease. Monitoring of the basic body parameters also facilitates an early detection of incorrect nutritional habits, potentially leading to overweight, obesity or low weight, and to assess the adequacy of breast milk nutrition in the youngest children.
The Czech Republic is one of the minority of countries worldwide that have their own growth reference data (growth “standard”). These are usually published in the form of growth charts, which are the result of extensive Nationwide Anthropological Surveys (NAS). These surveys were organised at ten-year intervals between 1951 and 2001, establishing a unique tradition worldwide.
Today, growth charts are still part of the Certificate of Child and Adolescent Health and Vaccination (annexes for parents) and are also given separately to paediatricians and specialist doctors. They are also available in digital form on this website of the National Institute of Public Health. From the website of the National Institute of Public Health it is also possible to download the growth programme RůstCZ, which allows the measured data to be recorded and immediately displayed in up-to-date graphs.