This study involved 25,000 children from 5 days to 18 years recruited from 8 Maternal and Child Health Centres and 49 kindergartens/schools in 1993. This study did not only update the local growth charts for weight, height and head circumference, but also collected pubertal data for compiling the first charts on sexual maturation for Hong Kong children.
Data collected from this growth survey clearly showed a secular trend in weight and height growth in Hong Kong children. More specifically, the average 18-year-old adolescents were 2 to 4cm taller and 5 to 9kg heavier, and menarche was 6 months earlier than those in the 1960s. Such change in growth and developmental status was likely related to a change in lifestyle.
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