Target Height Calculation Using the Hermanussen-Cole Method

This function calculates the target height of a child using the method proposed by Hermanussen & Cole (2003). The formula accounts for assortative mating and parent-offspring height correlations, leading to predictions that are more moderate than the traditional "follow-the-centile" method.

Usage

hermanussencole(
  hgtf,
  hgtm,
  sex,
  rPP = 0.19,
  rPO = 0.58,
  mu = c(183.8, 170.7),
  sigma = c(7.1, 6.3),
  pmu = c(184, 170.6),
  psigma = c(7.1, 6.5)
)

Arguments

hgtf

Numeric vector with the height of the biological father in cm.

hgtm

Numeric vector with the height of the biological mother in cm. The length of hgtm must be the same as hgtf.

sex

Character vector indicating the sex of the child for whom the target height is being calculated. Must be either "male" or "female" and have the same length as hgtf.

rPP

Numeric value for the correlation between the heights of parents. The default value (0.19) is calculated for the Dutch population. Hermanussen & Cole (2003) used a value of 0.27.

rPO

Numeric value for the correlation between parental height and offspring height. The default value (0.58) is based on the Dutch population, while Hermanussen & Cole (2003) used 0.57.

mu

Numeric vector of length 2, representing the mean height in cm of boys and girls in the reference population. The default values mu = c(183.8, 170.7) come from the Fifth Dutch Growth Study (2009).

sigma

Numeric vector of length 2, representing the standard deviation of height in cm for boys and girls in the reference population. The default values sigma = c(7.1, 6.3) are based on the Fifth Dutch Growth Study (2009).

pmu

Numeric vector of length 2, representing the mean height in cm of fathers and mothers in the reference population. The default values pmu = c(184, 170.6) are from the Fourth Dutch Growth Study (1997).

psigma

Numeric vector of length 2, representing the standard deviation of height in cm for fathers and mothers in the reference population. The default values psigma = c(7.1, 6.5) are from the Fourth Dutch Growth Study (1997).

Value

A data.frame with the three columns:

y

Target height in cm.

y.sd

Standard deviation of the error term in cm.

z

Target height in standard deviation score (SDS), relative to the child reference.

References

Hermanussen M & Cole TJ (2003). "The Calculation of Target Height Reconsidered." Hormone Research, 59, 180–183.

See also

targetheight

Author

Stef van Buuren

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
# Example 1: Target height for Dutch population, calculated using
# the Hermanussen & Cole method.
hermanussencole(hgtf = 157, hgtm = 154, sex = "male")

# Example 2: The same target height calculated using the simplified method.
targetheight(hgtf = 157, hgtm = 154, sex = "male")

# Example 3: Target height for case discussed in the appendix of
# Hermanussen & Cole (2003).
# A small discrepancy, 166.5 cm (published) versus 166.6 cm (calculated),
# is due to rounding differences.
hermanussencole(hgtf = c(157, 157), hgtm = c(154, 154),
                sex = c("male", "female"),
                rPP = 0.27, rPO = 0.57,
                mu = c(178.2, 163.8), sigma = c(6.8, 6.0),
                pmu = c(178.2, 163.8), psigma = c(6.8, 6.0))
} # }