Need info re growth assessment software

[Anna Arrowsmith]

Susan,

The Food and Nutrition Information Center maintains a Database of Food 
and Nutrition Software and Multimedia Programs.  It's searchable from our 
web site at:  http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic

I know that there is at least one program that plots growth charts.  Use 
the search term "growth chart."

I hope this helps!

Anna

******************************************************************

Anna Arrowsmith
Food and Nutrition Information Center
USDA/ARS/National Agricultural Library
10301 Baltimore Avenue   Room #304
Beltsville, MD  20705-2351

(301) 504-5719
Fax: (301) 504-6409
Internet: aarrowsm at nal.usda.gov
Information and publication requests:  fnic at nal.usda.gov
World Wide Web:  http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic


On Mon, 18 Aug 1997 Susan_Lutz at muccmail.missouri.edu wrote:


>      Good morning.  At the University of Missouri-Columbia, we are 

>      currently trying to locate a simple software program that would allow 

>      us to enter the heights and weights of study children and determine 

>      their percentiles for weight for height based on the NCHS growth 

>      charts.  Is the software described in this message what we have been 

>      looking for?  Does anybody know if any such software exists?

>      

>      Thank you so much for your help!

>      

>      Susan Lutz

>      Dietetics Education

>      University of Missouri-Columbia

>      (573) 882-8690

> 

> 

> ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________

> Subject: Need info re growth assessment software

> Author:  "Kathrynne Holden, MS,RD" <fivstar at webaccess.net> at MU-Internet

> Date:    8/11/97 12:02 AM

> 

> 

> I have been asked by a colleague in Australia to post the following

> request for growth assessment software. Please reply directly to:

> 

>  Roy.Price at ASPTIO.HEALTH.nt.gov.au

> 

> *******************************************************

>      Greetings from Central Australia

> 

>      THE MESSAGE IN BRIEF

> 

>      NT Nutritionists would like to know if you have any knowledge of a

>      user friendly (?Windows based) 0 to 5 growth assessment, monitoring

>      and reporting package?

> 

>      Before we go ahead and seek funding to have a package written for

> us,

>      we would like to determine if there is another package available

>      somewhere in the world that will perform the functions we require.

> 

>      If you have any information about such a package, please reply to

>      roy.price at nt.gov.au with details, phone me on 0889515368, or fax on

>      0889515810

> 

>      The information below is a detailed account of where NT

> Nutritionists

>      are with respect to Growth Assessment, Monitoring and Reporting. 

> If

>      you have no knowledge of a suitable package or no interest in the

>      topic, there is no need to read any further.  However, if you do

> have

>      information about or an interest in the topic, please read on.

> 

>      Roy Price

>      for NT Nutritionists

>     

> ---------------------------------------------------------------------

> 

>      THE MESSAGE IN DETAIL

> 

>      Nutritionists in the NT are closely involved with assessment of

> growth

>      of children 0 to 5.  A Growth Assessment and Action policy is in

>      place, training of key personnel has been undertaken, equipment has

>      been upgraded to approved standards, and the lengths, weights and

>      haemoglobins of children are regularly being measured, collated and

>      dispatched to a central processing point.

> 

>      The anthropometric and haemoglobin measurements of the children are

>      entered, along with demographic and other information, into a

>      relational database in EPIINFO Version 6.04b. The relational

> database

>      was designed for NT Nutritionists by Dr John McComb,

> Epidemiologist,

>      philanthropist and all round good guy.  The package John has

> written

>      allows serial measurements and z-score calculations to be stored

> for

>      children so that longitudinal studies of the growth of individual

> or

>      groups of children can be undertaken.

> 

>      As many of you may already know, EPIINFO is a statistical analysis

>      package which contains a module to calculate z-scores of the weight

>      for height, height for age, and weight for age of children 0 to 5.

>      John has also written instructions for that package to generate a

>      variety of reports including coverage reports, quarterly district

> and

>      quarterly regional reports.

> 

>      Because of the limitations of EPIINFO in its current DOS based

> form,

>      much of the results of calculations in EPIINFO are imported into

>      Microsoft Excel for Windows where individual, community and

> regional

>      growth charts and other graphs are generated.  It is our opinion

> that

>      reports that are predominantly graphical are likely to be most

>      meaningful to the communities we are reporting to.

> 

>      The problem for us currently is that the use of the relational

>      database in EPIINFO is cumbersome, incompatible with the Territory

>      Health Services virus protection software (Thunderbyte Antivirus),

> and

>      the techniques used to import data from EPI into Excel and

> manipulate

>      it within Excel takes a degree of computer literacy not held by all

>      Nutritionists who will be expected to use it.

> 

>      The Centre of Disease Control in Atlanta USA, the authors of

> EPIINFO,

>      are planning to release a version of EPIINFO for Windows this

> "winter"

>      (?January  98?).  Our conservative opinion is that the first

> release

>      is not likely to be without bugs and it may be 12 months or longer

>      before its problems are ironed out sufficiently to make it useable.

> 

>      If, however, the Windows version is without major problems and if a

>      relatively sophisticated growth assessment, monitoring and

> reporting

>      package is a feature in the Windows version (or the ability to

> create

>      one) then NT Nutritionist's prayers will be answered.  If the

> Windows

>      release does not contain such a package (or facilities to generate

> one)

>      we will be forced to either continue to fumble along with the

> current

>      DOS based package or seriously consider having a relational

> database

>      and growth assessment and reporting package written in Microsoft

>      Access.  All the necessary information to do so is contained within

>      EPIINFO but long regression equations written in Pascal (I think)

> will

>      need to be rewritten in Visual Basic and may take weeks or months

> to

>      accomplish and debug.

> 

>      Many thanks for taking the time to read the diatribe above.

> 

>      Roy Price

>      for NT Nutritionists

> *******************************************************************

> -- 

> Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD

> Editor-in-Chief,

> "Spotlight on Food--nutrition news for people 60-plus"

> http://www.fortnet.org/~fivstar

> and NUTRITION TOPICS copy-ready handouts

> http://www.dietetics.com/class/fivstar/

> Tel: 970-493-6532   Fax: 970-493-6538

> 

> 

> 

>