Growth status and academic performance in Brazilian school age children: growth retardation impairs mathematical, but not reading and spelling abilities.

Aim: To assess the effect of child growth status on academic achievement and the association between child growth and academic standing.

Method: The heights of 722 middle-school children were measured using standard procedures and height-for-age z (HAZ) scores were calculated based on an international reference. Academic performance was assessed by an adaptation of the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT3) composed of Reading, Arithmetic and Spelling.

Results: Children in the group with higher HAZ scores performed better than children in the group with lower HAZ scores only on the Arithmetic subtest. This finding was confirmed by a multiple regression model analysis of the data. In addition, only performance on the Arithmetic subtest was positively associated with HAZ.

Conclusion: These results indicate that growth retardation impacts specifically on the development of arithmetic (numeracy) skills and are consistent with a three-fold model of life course influences on health including latency, cumulative and pathway effects.