The Department of Health (DH) today announced that the Hong Kong 2020 Growth References (HK2020), a new set of growth charts with new references and definitions, will be adopted starting from the second half of this year to better assess and monitor the growth of children and adolescents.

To study the growth of contemporary Hong Kong children and review the existing growth charts developed in 1993 (HK1993), the DH, the Chinese University Paediatrics Department and the University of Hong Kong Paediatrics & Adolescent Medicine Department jointly conducted the Hong Kong Growth Study (HKGS) which was funded by the Health Bureau’s Health & Medical Research Fund. The research team also reviewed whether the Child Growth Standards developed by the World Health Organization for children aged zero to five in 2006 (WHO2006) were suitable to be adopted for use in Hong Kong.

Four sets of gender-specific growth charts for children under 18 are developed in HK2020. They include the weight-for-age charts, the length/height-for-age charts, the body mass index-for-age charts, and the head circumference-for-age charts.

The HKGS results revealed a clear secular trend in height for children and adolescents in the city.

Comparing the new and old growth charts, the weight and height in HK2020 were higher than that in HK1993, particularly at pubertal ages.

Notably, an increase of about two centimetres in median height was found for boys and girls at the age of 18.

The data of Hong Kong children under the age of five in the survey also fitted the WHO2006 reasonably well.

Furthermore, as the distribution of body fat for children changes with age, the study recommended an updated definition and assessment for overweight/obesity by using body mass index-for-age instead of weight-for-height.

A new set of growth charts for child-growth monitoring is hence required in Hong Kong, the DH pointed out.

To provide an updated reference tool to assess and monitor the growth of children and adolescents, the DH plans to adopt HK2020 at its maternal and child health centres from July, and at its student health service centres in September.

From September, the Hospital Authority will implement the new growth charts in its hospitals in phases, with a view to rolling out to all its hospitals by the end of this year.