Data on height and weight from school health records as a national public health surveillance tool: The case of Sweden

Abstract

Aim: To investigate the suitability of using routine height and weight data from records within a school health service system, for population monitoring of child and adolescent growth on a national level. Methods: A longitudinal study from age 7 to 18 years of all children born on the 15th of any month in 1973 and living in Sweden on 31 December 1989 (1,724 girls and 1,855 boys). Data were collected from school health records. Results: Descriptive statistics for height and weight calculated from data obtained from school health records are summarized and compared with previous Swedish studies. The effect of exclusion of children with chronic diseases involving major growth impairment and/or exclusion of children born outside Sweden have a minor impact on the results owing to the relatively small number of excluded children. Conclusion: Longitudinal data for somatic growth (height and weight) from age 7 to 18 years from a nationally representative sample of children in Sweden, collected from school health records, can be used for epidemiological monitoring of growth with fewer missing individuals and at lower costs compared with other dedicated studies. Data quality is comparable to similar national surveys. The data are suitable for descriptive analysis of growth and other forms of observational study.