NHS data to understand growth in children
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A feasibility study of using routinely collected height and weight data to understand patterns of growth in early childhood
IRAS ID
327005
Contact name
Oliver Mytton
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 30 days
Research summary
Children have their height and weight regularly measured during the first years of life by the NHS. Traditionally these measurements have been recorded on paper (e.g. in the ‘Red Book’ that tracks children’s growth and development). Increasingly these measurements are also captured electronically.
Electronic recording opens new possibility of using this data to better understand children’s growth. For example, this could be used for clinical purposes, monitoring or research.
The pre-school period may be particularly important for children’s growth. During this pre-school period marked differences between socio-economic groups emerge. This pre-school period (particularly the first 1000 days) is considered very important in terms of children’s growth and health in later life. Whilst current public health systems are very good at characterising unhealthy weight for school aged children, they are not very good at characterising growth before children start at school.
The aim of this study is to assess the potential of using this data to better understand children’s growth, using data from three local authority areas (Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Luton). We will also use the data to describe the differences z-BMI (age adjusted body mass index) by age by socio-economic group and ethnic group.REC name
London - Stanmore Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/LO/0628
Date of REC Opinion
20 Jul 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion