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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published revised pediatric growth charts to replace those provided by the National Center for Health Statistics more than 20 years ago. The new growth charts differ from the familiar 1977 charts in several important ways, including: the data used to construct the charts, the selection of measures, age ranges, statistical smoothing methods, and the percentile values that are available. The two new percentile-for-age Body Mass Index (BMI) growth charts allow pediatric health care providers to judge whether a child's weight is appropriate for stature and detect children who are showing signs of being at risk for overweight/obesity. Routinely tracking BMI throughout childhood is important because upper level BMIs in childhood are associated with increased current health risks and increased risks for morbidity and mortality in adulthood. The new pediatric growth charts are available in hard copy and on the Internet at the Centers for Disease Control website (http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/). The website provides graphic and tabular data for the 3rd, 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, 95th, and 97th percentiles for each growth measure. It also provides the 85th percentile for Body Mass Index. (Roche A, Guo S. Pediatric Basics 2001; 1 (94):2-13) Comment: The story
behind the story is that revisions were needed because of the increasing Contributed by:
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