SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Pediatr.
Sec. Pediatric Endocrinology
Prevalence of Growth Retardation Among Children and Adolescents in China: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Xiamen Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Affiliated to Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xiamen, China
- 2Waigang Town Community Health Service Center, Shanghai, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Objective: To determine the prevalence of growth delay in Chinese children and adolescents through a meta-analysis, providing scientific evidence for early intervention and prevention. Methods: Relevant literature on the prevalence of growth delay in Chinese children was retrieved from eight major databases: China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang, Chongqing VIP, ChineseBiomedical Literature Database, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science. Two researchers independently assessed the quality of the studies based on the inclusion criteria for cross-sectional studies outlined in the STROBE guidelines. Discrepancies were resolved through cross-checking, and data extracted from the studies were analyzed using Stata 15. Results: A total of 50 studies were included, with a sample size of 2,644,818 participants. The meta-analysis revealed that the overall prevalence of growth delay in Chinese children and adolescents was 5.7% (95% CI: 5.3% – 6.2%). Subgroup analysis by age showed the following prevalence rates: 7.4% (95% CI: 6.6%–8.3%) for ages 0-2 years, 6.8% (95% CI: 6.1%–7.4%) for ages 3-6 years, 3.9% (95% CI: 3.6%–4.2%) for ages 6-12 years, and 3.0% (95% CI: 2.3% – 3.6%) for ages 13-18 years. Statistically significant differences were observed between age groups (P < 0.05). Regarding gender, the prevalence was 6.2% (95% CI: 5.4%–7.0%) for males and 6.6% (95% CI: 5.7%– 7.5%) for females, with no significant difference between genders (P > 0.05). Analysis by residential area indicated that the prevalence in rural areas was 8.4% (95% CI: 6.2%–10.5%), compared to 3.5% (95% CI: 2.5%–4.4%) in urban areas, showing a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05). Geographically, the Southwest region had the highest prevalence at 9.2% (95% CI: 4.4% – 14%), followed by South China (7.0%, 95% CI: 5.7%–8.3%), Northwest China (5.7%, 95% CI: 2.5%–9.0%), Central China (3.8%, 95% CI: 1.4%–6.1%), East China (2.6%, 95% CI: 2.0%–3.2%),and North China (1.8%, 95% CI: 1.1%–2.4%). No significant differences were found in growth delay prevalence among regions (P > 0.05). Regarding study year, the prevalence in 2005-2009 was 25.8% (95% CI: 2.2% – 49.5%), 5.2% (95% CI: 3.9%–6.6%) in 2010-2019, and 3.0% (95% CI: 2.7%–3.3%) in 2020-2024, with statistically significant differences observed across years (P < 0.05).
Keywords: growth delay, stunting, Children, adolescents, Prevalence, Meta-analysis
Received: 24 May 2025; Accepted: 24 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Qiu, Wang, Qiu and Ye. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Guoping Ye
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.