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Background: Measures of body size at birth are widely used for the evaluation of prenatal growth but limitations exist in their interpretation. Objective: To establish the percentile curves for the six common anthropometric indices (PI: ponderal index, BMI: body mass index, THR: thigh circumference/head circumference ratio, MAC/OFC: mid-arm circumference/head circumference, W/OFC: weight/head circumference, and W/L: weight/length) and determine the best anthropometric index for evaluating intrauterine nutritional status in Chinese neonates. Methods: A prospective cross-sectional anthropometric study was carried out. The anthropometric measurements were performed according to the Hall’s guidelines within 48 h of birth. Results: 10,226 infants (5,422 males, 4,804 females) with gestation 28–42 weeks from 12 hospitals were included for analysis. All of the six anthropometric indices correlated well with total skinfold thickness (T-SF, the sum of triceps skinfold thickness and subscapular skinfold thickness; p < 0.0001). Among the six anthropometric indices, W/L showed the highest correlation coefficient with T-SF (r = 0.622; p < 0.0001 in whole group, r = 0.653; p < 0.0001 in preterm infants, r = 0.612; p < 0.0001 in term infants). Conclusion: The present study establishes the gender-specific reference curves for the six important anthropometric indices in Chinese infants. W/L is a readily available index at birth that reflects the intrauterine nutritional state.

UNLABELLED Skinfold thickness is a validated parameter of subcutaneous fat accumulation. Data on triceps and subscapular skinfold thicknesses were collected from 10,043 (5318 males, 4725 females) singletons at 12 hospitals with gestation 31-42 wk. The LMS method using maximum penalized likelihood was used to perform model fitting of the anthropometric centiles for these parameters. Both triceps and subscapular skinfold thicknesses were greater in girls than in boys. Racial differences were found when comparing with other populations. The triceps subscapular skinfold thicknesses of Chinese infants were significantly lower than those of US white infants but larger than those of African-American infants, Israeli infants, Spanish infants and Indian infants. CONCLUSION This study provides the first set of references for the triceps and subscapular skinfold thicknesses of Chinese infants by gestation and gender. These data are helpful in determining the nutritional status of infants at birth and in assessing the postnatal growth of Chinese infants.

Careful examination and assessment of penile length in the newborn is important because micropenis is associated with hypothalamic disorders. This prospective cross-sectional study was designed to establish the norm of penile length for term Hong Kong Chinese newborns. 4,628 full-term healthy male newborns were enrolled in the study. Penile length was measured from pubic ramus to the tip of the glans penis by placing the end of a straight edge ruler against the pubic ramus. A gestation-associated graph of 3rd, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th and 97th centiles for the penile length was created. The penile length was significantly correlated with gestational age, birth weight and body length. When compared with published data for other populations, Hong Kong newborns have significantly shorter penile length. The norm of the penile length is useful in diagnostic and therapeutics for the ethnic Chinese male newborns.

Few studies have investigated the velocities of fetal growth. The aim of the present study was to determine the pattern of ‘fetal’ growth velocities in a Chinese population. The gestation-specific measurements of the body weight, body length and head circumference in a representative sample of 5,045 male and 4,484 female newborns delivered between 26 and 42 weeks of gestation at 12 hospitals in Hong Kong were obtained. Peak growth velocity occurred before 30 weeks of gestation for head circumference, at week 30 for length and at week 30 for weight. When compared with data obtained from a French population, a significant difference in the growth velocity for body weight was observed below 32 weeks between French and Chinese infants, suggesting an ethnic difference in fetal growth of this parameter.

A 5-year territory-wide retrospective survey of invasive Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) diseases in Hong Kong established that the annual incidence for children5 years old was 2.7 per 100000 [95% confidence interval (CI), 2.0 to 3.5]. However, the corresponding annual incidence in Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong was 42.7 per 100000 (95% CI 17.2 to 87.9), giving a relative risk of 18.5 (95% CI 8.3 to 41.0). The nasopharyngeal carriage rate of Hib was zero in 621 healthy Chinese children and 1.3% (95% CI 0.04 to 2.63%) in 300 healthy Vietnamese refugees 2 months to 5 years old in Hong Kong. The corresponding carriage rate of nontypable H. influenzae was 5.8% (95% CI 1.4 to 7.6%) in Chinese and 65.4% (95% CI 58.9 to 69.8) in Vietnamese. In a larger study of 1812 healthy Chinese children between 6 months and 5 years of age investigated by throat swabs, again no Hib was isolated but 141 children (7.8%) were found to be carriers of nontype b H. influenzae. In a study of 596 healthy Chinese children and adults, 25% had the protective level of anti-Hib antibody of0.15 microg/ml by 1 year and 90% had reached0.15 microg/ml by 6 years of age. There was some evidence that these "natural" antibodies against Hib in Hong Kong Chinese were cross-reacting antibodies against antigens on other encapsulated bacteria.