Background : Growth assessment based on standardized height and weight tables and charts is an essential part of healthcare monitoring and services for children and adolescents. The present systematic and meta-analysis study aimed to determine the height of Iranian children aged 7 to 18 years and compare it with the global standards.
Methods: A meta-analysis was performed on all relevant studies published until November 2018. The databases Iranmedex, Magiran, SID, IranDoc, Medline, Scopus, PubMed, Science Direct, Web of Knowledge, Cochrane and Google Scholar were searched using mesh and non-mesh keywords. Findings of the reviewed studies were compiled using the random effects model. Data heterogeneity was calculated using the Q statistic and the I 2 index.
Results: 37 articles were found eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis. The total sample size in these studies was 395,210, consisting of 189,985 males and 205,372 females. The mean height of 18-year-old Iranian girls ( ) was, respectively, 5.30, 5.38, 5.37 cm lower than the reference figures given by WHO ( ), CDC ( ), and NCHS ( ). Similarly, the mean height of 18-year-old Iranian boys ( ) was, respectively, 5.05, 5.09, 5.07 cm lower than the WHO ( ), CDC ( ), and NCHS ( ) standards.
Conclusions: Given the slightly different growth pattern and low mean height of Iranian girls and boys compared to the global standards, it is imperative to develop and provide more generalizable growth charts for Iranian children in order to improve the quality of growth assessment undertaken for these age groups.