A methodological proposal for comparing anthropometric measurements between Colombian and US populations PROPUESTA METODOLóGICA PARA LA COMPARACIóN DE MEDICIONES ANTROPOMéTRICAS ENTRE UNA POBLACIóN BASE Y UNA POBLACIóN OBJETO: UNA APLICACIóN ENTRE POBLACIóN COLOMBIANA Y ESTADOUNIDENSE

Background. Using international growth patterns has been described as being inappropriate for describing a Latin-American population's characteristics and there is limited support for guaranteeing their applicability. Objective. Proposing a statistical methodology for comparing and predicting a target population's anthropometric values from a base population's values. Materials and methods. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used for establishing whether there were significant differences in a local target population's anthropometric measurements and those for a base population and identifying data fit by using a simple linear regression model. Results. There were significant differences between Colombian and US population growth patterns; the anthropometric percentiles studied for the Colombian population were lower than US ones. A greater than 90% coefficient of determination was obtained once the linear ratio had been determined; this led to stating that a linear regression model for all ages from both genders with measurements for the Colombian population could be estimated from US population information. Conclusions. The statistical methodology proposed here fit a target population's nutritional classification when compared to foreign reference patterns where stateorganism accepted reference tables were not available. The results of the present study showed a tendency towards underestimating the Colombian population's nutritional state because it had been compared to populations such as the US population which has different growth trends; such situation may be presented in other populations. Antecedentes. Diferentes estudios refieren que los patrones internacionales de crecimiento son impropios a las características de la población latinoamericana y que existe limitado sustento que garantice su aplicabilidad. Objetivo. Proponer el uso de una metodología estadística que permita comparar y predecir los valores antropométricos de una población objeto a partir de una población base. Material y métodos. Prueba de Kolmogorov-Smirnov para establecer si existen diferencias significativas en las mediciones antropométricas de una población objeto local y una población base e identificar el factor de ajuste a través de un modelo de regresión lineal simple. Resultados. Existen diferencias significativas entre los patrones de crecimiento de la población colombiana y la estadounidense; los percentiles de la variable antropométrica estudiada de la población colombiana fueron inferiores a los estadounidenses. Determinada la relación lineal se obtuvo un coeficiente de