{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-post-query-tsx","path":"/blog-post/how-small-is-too-small-part-2-of-3/","result":{"pageContext":{"post":{"slug":"/blog-post/how-small-is-too-small-part-2-of-3/","title":"How small is too small?  (Part 2 of 3)","date":"Apr 19, 2012","timeToRead":1,"description":"","body":"function _extends() { _extends = Object.assign || function (target) { for (var i = 1; i < arguments.length; i++) { var source = arguments[i]; for (var key in source) { if (Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(source, key)) { target[key] = source[key]; } } } return target; }; return _extends.apply(this, arguments); }\n\nfunction _objectWithoutProperties(source, excluded) { if (source == null) return {}; var target = _objectWithoutPropertiesLoose(source, excluded); var key, i; if (Object.getOwnPropertySymbols) { var sourceSymbolKeys = Object.getOwnPropertySymbols(source); for (i = 0; i < sourceSymbolKeys.length; i++) { key = sourceSymbolKeys[i]; if (excluded.indexOf(key) >= 0) continue; if (!Object.prototype.propertyIsEnumerable.call(source, key)) continue; target[key] = source[key]; } } return target; }\n\nfunction _objectWithoutPropertiesLoose(source, excluded) { if (source == null) return {}; var target = {}; var sourceKeys = Object.keys(source); var key, i; for (i = 0; i < sourceKeys.length; i++) { key = sourceKeys[i]; if (excluded.indexOf(key) >= 0) continue; target[key] = source[key]; } return target; }\n\n/* @jsxRuntime classic */\n\n/* @jsx mdx */\nvar _frontmatter = {\n  \"title\": \"How small is too small?  (Part 2 of 3)\",\n  \"date\": \"2012-04-19\",\n  \"template\": \"post\",\n  \"slug\": \"how-small-is-too-small-part-2-of-3\",\n  \"postedLink\": \"https://riceinstitute.org/blog/how-small-is-too-small-part-2-of-3/\",\n  \"old-tags\": [\"child-height\"],\n  \"description\": \"\",\n  \"tags\": \"Blog Post\",\n  \"banner\": \"\"\n};\nvar layoutProps = {\n  _frontmatter: _frontmatter\n};\nvar MDXLayout = \"wrapper\";\nreturn function MDXContent(_ref) {\n  var components = _ref.components,\n      props = _objectWithoutProperties(_ref, [\"components\"]);\n\n  return mdx(MDXLayout, _extends({}, layoutProps, props, {\n    components: components,\n    mdxType: \"MDXLayout\"\n  }), mdx(\"p\", null, \"As I mentioned yesterday, today\\u2019s post is about how body sizes at different ages vary. That is\\u2014the graph of the average z-scores that you saw yesterday doesn\\u2019t tell the whole story. Not every child is at the average. Indeed, many of them are doing a lot worse.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"The graph below show height for age, again computed from the National Family Health Survey. Except this time, instead of plotting the average height for age z-score at different ages, I\\u2019ve plotted the 95th, 75th, 50th, 25th and 5th percentile height for age z-scores. \", \"[\", \"The box plot wasn\\u2019t working well because I couldn\\u2019t figure out how to properly label the axes in Stata. This picture gives the same idea.\", \"]\"), mdx(\"p\", null, mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"http://riceinstitute.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Variancehfa.png\",\n    \"target\": \"_blank\",\n    \"rel\": \"noopener noreferrer\"\n  }, mdx(\"span\", {\n    parentName: \"a\",\n    \"className\": \"gatsby-resp-image-wrapper\",\n    \"style\": {\n      \"position\": \"relative\",\n      \"display\": \"block\",\n      \"marginLeft\": \"auto\",\n      \"marginRight\": \"auto\",\n      \"maxWidth\": \"786px\"\n    }\n  }, \"\\n      \", mdx(\"span\", {\n    parentName: \"span\",\n    \"className\": \"gatsby-resp-image-background-image\",\n    \"style\": {\n      \"paddingBottom\": \"72.5%\",\n      \"position\": \"relative\",\n      \"bottom\": \"0\",\n      \"left\": \"0\",\n      \"backgroundImage\": \"url('data:image/png;base64,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')\",\n      \"backgroundSize\": \"cover\",\n      \"display\": \"block\"\n    }\n  }), \"\\n  \", mdx(\"img\", {\n    parentName: \"span\",\n    \"className\": \"gatsby-resp-image-image\",\n    \"alt\": \"Variancehfa\",\n    \"title\": \"Variancehfa\",\n    \"src\": \"/static/cb92ddfd551ccd490efd089d27efe425/d1ce0/Variancehfa.png\",\n    \"srcSet\": [\"/static/cb92ddfd551ccd490efd089d27efe425/36ca5/Variancehfa.png 200w\", \"/static/cb92ddfd551ccd490efd089d27efe425/25cf9/Variancehfa.png 520w\", \"/static/cb92ddfd551ccd490efd089d27efe425/d1ce0/Variancehfa.png 786w\"],\n    \"sizes\": \"(max-width: 786px) 100vw, 786px\",\n    \"style\": {\n      \"width\": \"100%\",\n      \"height\": \"100%\",\n      \"margin\": \"0\",\n      \"verticalAlign\": \"middle\",\n      \"position\": \"absolute\",\n      \"top\": \"0\",\n      \"left\": \"0\"\n    },\n    \"loading\": \"lazy\"\n  }), \"\\n    \"))), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Once you\\u2019ve seen the graph of the averages, this graph seems fairly intuitive. The plot of the median (the 50th percentile) is pretty close to the plot of the average, and the 5th and 95th percentile kids are about equidistant from the 50th percentile.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"But when we stop to think of what this means for the shortest kids, we realize that the average, can seem optimistic. Let\\u2019s take the three year olds. The average three year old in the healthy reference population is 95 centimeters\\u20143 feet 1 inch\\u2014tall. A three year old with a z-score of -2 is 87.4 centimeters\\u2014about 2 feet 10 inches\\u2014tall. So, the average 3 year old in India is about 2 feet 10 inches. But the 3 year olds at the 5th percentile in India have a z-score of -4.25, meaning that they are only 78 centimeters\\u20142 feet 6.5 inches\\u2014tall. 2 feet 6.5 inches is the average height of a 16 month old baby in the healthy reference population!\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"While it is true that small size, related to poor diets and lots of disease, is a problem for children of all socioeconomic groups in India, I can\\u2019t help but feel particularly sobered today by thinking about the children at the 5th percentile\\u20263 year olds who are so small that their height would suggest that they are less than half their age.\"));\n}\n;\nMDXContent.isMDXComponent = true;","tags":[{"name":"Blog Post","slug":"blog-post"}],"banner":null}}},"staticQueryHashes":["318001574","3787687951","3787687951"]}