Inuit children in Nunavut, Canada, are being overdiagnosed for macrocephaly and underdiagnosed for microcephaly, two neurological conditions measured by head size, because of reliance on World Health Organization (WHO) growth curves, according to new research in CMAJ.
Canadian Medical Association JournalOct 21 2024 Inuit children in Nunavut, Canada, are being overdiagnosed for macrocephaly and underdiagnosed for microcephaly, two neurological conditions measured by head size, because of reliance on World Health Organization growth curves, according to new research in CMAJ https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.230905.
In a study that compared head circumferences of Inuit children in Nunavut with WHO head circumference charts, researchers used chart data on 1960 children born from 2010 to 2013. The study population represented 18 of 25 communities in the region. Most data were from children aged 0 to 36 months, and at all age points, head circumferences were significantly larger than the WHO comparators.
This can result in higher diagnoses of macrocephaly, with resulting travel, treatment, and other stressors in otherwise healthy children, and underdiagnosis of microcephaly, which can mean delayed attention to a medical condition. Related Stories"This unnecessary overinvestigation perpetuates a system that continues to bring harm to Inuit people, given the historical context of racism, mistreatment, and experimentation by settler health care workers," write the authors.
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