Comparison of International Growth Standards for Assessing Nutritional Status in Cystic Fibrosis: The GreeCF Study

OBJECTIVE: To compare three international growth references and explore their differences in assessing growth in Greek school-aged Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients. METHODS: Sample included 114 patients (50 boys, age 11.5 +/- 3.9 years), provided care at Aghia Sofia Children's Hospital, Greece. Anthropometrics and Forced Expiratory Volume at 1-second (FEV1%) were measured. Body Mass Index (BMI) and height z-scores were computed according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO) and International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) references. Agreement between methods were analyzed with kappa statistics, repeated-measures ANOVA and Bland-Altman analysis. The relationship between FEV1% and BMI was explored with linear regression. RESULTS: Mean CDC BMI z-score was lowest (0.06 +/- 1.08), followed by WHO (0.17 +/- 1.14) and IOTF (0.35 +/- 1.05) (p