Statistical methods and applications in growth and development - SITAR, LMS and IOTF

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The study of human growth and development involves the assessment and summary of size and how it changes over time. Assessment can take place on several different timescales: e.g. one-off, i.e. a single measurement to assess size using a growth reference; and longer term, where several measurements over an extended period of time define the shape of the individual's growth curve. Both timescales involve statistical issues that the author has previously studied: his LMS method (1992) for constructing growth references, and his SITAR mixed effects growth model for analysing growth curves (2010). The aim of the grant is to progress both topics: providing web-based software to replace the author's popular but now ageing Excel add-in LMSgrowth and PC program LMSchartmaker for manipulating growth data; and continuing to develop his SITAR model, as funded with a current MRC grant, by extending the existing dedicated R library and highlighting further novel applications of the method.