Causes and Mechanisms of Linear Growth Retardation (International Dietary Energy Consultative Group - IDECG, 1993, 216 pages): Effects of macrobiotic diets on linear growth in infants and children until 10 years of age: 4. Statistical analysis

Causes and Mechanisms of Linear Growth Retardation (International Dietary Energy Consultative Group - IDECG, 1993, 216 pages)

Effects of macrobiotic diets on linear growth in infants and children until 10 years of age

		(introductory text...)
		1. Introduction
		2. Subjects and methods
		3. Conversion into nutrients
		4. Statistical analysis
		5. Results
		6. Recommendations for the macrobiotic diet
		7. Two-year follow-up study
		8. Discussion
		References
		Discussion of papers by Allen, Neumann & Harrison and Dagnelie et al.
		Reference

4. Statistical analysis

Standard deviation scores (SDS) were calculated from the median (P50) and standard deviation of the Dutch reference data (Roede & Van Wieringen, 1985; Gerver, 1988). Growth velocities were either calculated as the increments from the first to the last measurement (expressed in units/year) or expressed in terms of change in standard deviation scores. Student's t-test was used to compare the means of two independent samples. Longitudinal changes in SDS were tested by paired t-test. In the mixed-longitudinal study, the level of successive measurements in all cohorts were simultaneously compared by multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Multiple regression models were fitted in order to determine the independent effects of different variables on birth weight, weight gain, linear growth, and the presence of skin and muscle wasting and rickets after adjustment for confounding variables.