Articles: disease.
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Anthropometry (the use of body measurements to assess nutritional status) is a practical and immediately applicable technique for assessing children's development patterns during the first years of life. An evaluation of their growth also provides useful insights into the nutrition and health situation of entire population groups. Anthropometric indicators are less accurate than clinical and biochemical techniques when it comes to assessing individual nutritional status. ⋯ Intercountry trend comparisons are difficult for two main reasons. Firstly, the time between surveys is occasionally different and, secondly, despite efforts to standardize data analysis and presentation, different cut-off points have been used to calculate prevalence figures and estimate the extent of undernutrition. However, the use of identical cut-off points is not essential for making intercountry trend analyses since it is the general trends in growth deficit and nutritional status over time which are being evaluated.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)