Ann Pediatr Res | Volume 4, Issue 3 | Review Article | Open Access
Kailash Nath Agarwal* and Dev Kumari Agarwal
Department of Pediatrics, Health Care and Research Association for Adolescents, India
*Correspondance to: Kailash Nath Agarwal
Fulltext PDFSchool-age child development describes the expected physical, emotional, and mental abilities of 6 to 9 and 9 to 14 years (grows 5 cm/yr until puberty-sexual development commences). By about 9 to 11 years in girls and 11 to 14 years in boys sexual development initiates physical growth-height gain is 27 cm to 29 cm in boys & 24 cm to 26 cm in girls; weight gain in both remains 25 kg to 30 kg. The affluent Indian children had puberty changes closure to European, American children. Children in a rural cohort showed that for their growth during adolescence to maintain their vital functions amino-acids from body muscles were mobilized, as demonstrated by increased serum enzyme activities i.e. LDH, ALP, AST, ALT, CK, CK-MB and CK-mm. The 31- phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy showed that b-ATP and Pi were significantly increased at the cost of Pcr (Phosphocreatinine). These changes simulate myopathic status. In assessment of their adolescent growth spurt height gain was similar to affluent Indian children. However, deficit of early life in height was not corrected. No age period could be identified for peak height velocity. The weight gain was 38%, only as compared to the affluent Indian children. In sexual development boys had delayed maturation of: Genitals by 1.54 yr; Pubic hair by 0.82 yr and axilla hair by 0.65 yr. However, testicular volume was comparable. In girls breast development was delayed. These rural girls had delayed breast development and menarche by 2.19 yr. and 0.82 yr, respectively as compared to affluent Indian girls. These undernourished children had lower mental abilities, persistence of soft neurological signs (poor fine motor coordination), reduced frontal lobe size on MRI. In these children the reaction time did not improve even after nutritional rehabilitation. In addition Iron deficiency irreversibly altered neurotransmitters.
Adolescence; Growth; Sexual development; Menarche; Brain; Soft neurological signs; Neurotransmitters; Brain MRI; Malnutrition; Iron deficiency
Agarwal KN, Agarwal DK. Adolescence in Indian Children. Ann Pediatr Res. 2020;4(3):1040..