Growth charts for children with rare genetic disorders - giving healthcare professionals and families clearer guidance on how a child is developing - have been created by an international team, led by the University of Bristol.
The
National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)-funded study is published in the
European Journal of Human Genetics (EJHG) today [13 October].
The new method, called LMSz, builds on standard population growth charts but adapts them for very small groups of children with rare genetic conditions.
Growth charts — the familiar lines on a child’s height and weight chart— are an important part of everyday paediatric care. They help healthcare professionals check whether a child is growing as expected and spot health concerns early.
In the UK, a child's Personal Child Health Record (PCHR) – commonly known as the "red book" – is a vital health and development record given to parents at birth to track a child's growth, vaccinations, and key developmental milestones. It's used by both parents and healthcare professionals to record health information and ensure a child receives timely check-ups, screenings, and immunisations.
But for children with rare genetic conditions, standard growth charts often don’t tell the full story. These children may grow much more slowly or quickly than other children, leaving parents and healthcare professionals unsure whether the child’s growth is typical for their condition. Until now, there hasn’t been enough data to make accurate, condition-specific growth charts.
An international team of researchers has solved this problem with a new method that can create reliable growth charts even when only a small number of cases are available.
The study used data from almost 600 children worldwide to make growth charts for six rare genetic conditions: ANKRD11, ARID1B, ASXL3, DDX3X, KMT2A, and SATB2.
Dr Karen Low, NIHR Clinical Research Fellow in
Bristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences (PHS), who led the research, said: “Parents of children with rare genetic conditions often feel anxious when their child’s growth looks very different from other children. They also tell us that health professionals can make them very worried about this or question why their child isn’t growing.”
“Our growth charts help show what’s typical for that specific condition, which can provide reassurance or might highlight in which children medical intervention is required which supports better medical care.”
The new growth charts show how growth patterns vary between different conditions. For example, some children tend to be much smaller than average, while others may gain weight more rapidly over time. This information can help healthcare professionals make more informed decisions and give families a clearer picture of what to expect as their child grows.
The team’s method was developed with DECIPHER and is now being built into
DECIPHER, a widely used online platform for understanding genetic variation hosted at EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute (
EMBL-EBI). This means growth charts could soon be available for thousands of rare conditions, helping healthcare professionals and families around the world.
Based on the study’s preprint paper, the new method is already being used by two other research groups for other rare disease disorders.
Dr Karen Low added: “We hope our new method will mean that condition specific charts become a standard part of care for children with rare genetic conditions.
“Our study is about giving healthcare professionals and families the tools they need to understand and support a child’s unique growth journey. Every child deserves care that’s based on the best possible information.”