WHO Would Like a New Growth Chart?

The WHO 2006 growth charts represent a diverse population of breast-fed children under ideal conditions and, therefore, might be more appropriate than the CDC 2000 growth charts.

Most pediatricians in the U.S. use the CDC 2000 growth charts and define shortness, underweight, and overweight by the 5th and 95th percentiles. These charts were derived from cross-sectional U.S. data from 1970 through the early 1990s. The WHO 2006 growth charts for children aged 0 to 5 years are derived from data on healthy breast-fed children with no economic constraints on growth from Brazil, India, Ghana, Norway, Oman, and the U.S. WHO data for children aged 0 to 2 years are longitudinal, and data for children aged 2 to 5 years are cross-sectional. The WHO 2006 recommended cutoff values for shortness, underweight, and overweight are two standard deviations above and below the mean (the 2.3rd and 97.7th percentiles).

CDC researchers comp…

Reviewing Author

Cornelius W. Van Niel, MD

Disclosures

EquityMedtronic; Express Scripts; Johnson & Johnson; Merck

Cornelius W. Van Niel, MD

Disclosures

EquityMedtronic; Express Scripts; Johnson & Johnson; Merck

WHO Would Like a New Growth Chart?

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Reviewing Author