Comparison of Changes in Growth Percentiles of US Children on CDC 2000 Growth Charts With Corresponding Changes on WHO 2006 Growth Charts

Abstract

Longitudinal data with 37 964 length and weight measurements from 10 844 children who participated in the California Child Health and Development Study was used to compare the proportion of children aged ≤24 months who crossed major percentile lines on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2000 growth charts with the percentage who crossed corresponding lines on the World Health Organization (WHO) 2006 growth charts. Percentage of children aged ≤24 months who crossed at least 2 major percentile lines for length-for-age, weight-for-age, and weight-for-length according to CDC 2000 charts were compared with the percentage who did so according to WHO 2006 charts. The results from this analysis suggest that pediatricians who monitor children’s growth on the basis of WHO 2006 growth charts may be more likely to refer children aged <6 months and less likely to refer those aged 6 to 12 months for further evaluation for failure to thrive.

Keywords

growth charts nutritional assessment length-for-age weight-for-age weight-for-length percentile

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Zenel JA Jr. Failure to thrive: a general pediatrician’s perspective . Pediatr Rev. 1997;18:371-378.

Bithoney WG , Dubowitz H. , Egan H. Failure to thrive/ growth deficiency. Pediatr Rev . 1992;13:453-460.

Kuczmarski RJ , Ogden CL , Guo SS , et al. 2000 CDC growth charts for the United States: methods and development. Vital Health Stat. 2002;11(246):1-190.

Roche AF , Himes JH Incremental growth charts. Am J Clin Nutr. 1980;33:2041-2052.

Tanner JM , Davis PSW.

Clinical longitudinal standards for height and height velocity for North

American children. J Pediatr. 1985 ;107:317-329.

World Health Organization. WHO Child Growth Standards: Height-for-Age, Weight-for-Age, Weight-for-Length, Weight-for-Height, and Body Mass Index-for-Age: Methods and Development. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2006.

de Onis M. , Garza C. , Victora CG , Bhan MK , Norum KR. The WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study (MGRS): rationale, planning, and implementation. Food Nutr Bull. 2004;25(suppl 1):S1-S89.

Graitcer PL , Gentry EM Measuring children: one reference for all. Lancet . 1981;2:297-299.

Habicht JP , Martorell R. , Yarbrough C. , Malina RM , Klein RE Height and weight standards for preschool children: how relevant are ethnic differences in growth potential? Lancet. 1974 ;1:611-614.

10.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Use of World Health Organization and CDC growth charts for children aged 0-59 months in the United States. MMWR Recomm Rep. 2010;59(RR-9):1-15.

11.

de Onis M. , Garza C. , Onyango AW , Borghi E. Comparison of the WHO child growth standards and the CDC 2000 growth charts . J Nutr. 2007;137:144-148.

12.

Mei Z. , Ogden CL , Flegal KM , Grummer-Strawn LM Comparison of the prevalence of shortness, underweight, and overweight among US children aged 0-59 months using the CDC 2000 and the WHO 2006 growth charts . J Pediatr. 2008;153:622-628.

13.

Mei Z. , Grummer-Strawn LM , Thompson D. , Dietz WH Shifting linear growth during childhood: analysis of the California Child Health and Development Study longitudinal data. Pediatrics . 2004;113:e617-e627.

14.

University of California at Berkeley and Western Consortium for Public Health. Data Archive and User’s Manual of the Child Health and Development Studies. Berkeley, CA: University of California at Berkeley and Western Consortium for Public Health; 1994.

15.

Van den Berg BJ , Christianson RE , Oechsli FW The California Child Health and Development Studies of the School of Public Health, University of California at Berkeley . Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 1988;2: 265-282.

16.

Yerushalmy J. Mother’s cigarette smoking and survival of infant. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1964;88:505-518.

17.

Wingerd J. , Schoen EJ , Solomon IL Growth standards in the first two years of life based on measurements of white and black children in a prepaid health care program. Pediatrics . 1971;47:818-825.

18.

Waterlow JC Classification and definition of protein-calorie malnutrition. BMJ. 1972;3:566-569.

19.

Frank DA , Zeisel SH Failure to thrive. Pediatr Clin North Am. 1988;35:1187-1206.

20.

Porter B. , Skuse D. When does slow weight gain become failure to thrive? Arch Dis Child. 1991;66:905-906.