Skip to main content
Archives of Disease in Childhood logoLink to Archives of Disease in Childhood
. 1995 Jul;73(1):17–24. doi: 10.1136/adc.73.1.17

Cross sectional stature and weight reference curves for the UK, 1990.

J V Freeman 1, T J Cole 1, S Chinn 1, P R Jones 1, E M White 1, M A Preece 1
PMCID: PMC1511167  PMID: 7639543

Abstract

The current reference curves of stature and weight for the UK were first published in 1966 and have been used ever since despite increasing concern that they may not adequately describe the growth of present day British children. Using current data from seven sources new reference curves have been estimated from birth to 20 years for children in 1990. The great majority of the data are nationally representative. The analysis used Cole's LMS method and has produced efficient estimates of the conventional centiles and gives a good fit to the data. These curves differ from the currently used curves at key ages for both stature and weight. In view of the concerns expressed about the current curves and the differences between them and the new curves, it is proposed that the curves presented here should be adopted as the new UK reference curves.

Full text

PDF
17

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Buckler J. M. Are Tanner growth charts applicable to children at school entry in Leeds? Arch Dis Child. 1985 Dec;60(12):1188–1191. doi: 10.1136/adc.60.12.1188. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Chinn S. Longitudinal studies: design and analysis. Rev Epidemiol Sante Publique. 1989;37(5-6):431–441. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Chinn S., Price C. E., Rona R. J. Need for new reference curves for height. Arch Dis Child. 1989 Nov;64(11):1545–1553. doi: 10.1136/adc.64.11.1545. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Chinn S., Rona R. J., Price C. E. The secular trend in height of primary school children in England and Scotland 1972-79 and 1979-86. Ann Hum Biol. 1989 Sep-Oct;16(5):387–395. doi: 10.1080/03014468900000512. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Chinn S., Rona R. J. The secular trend in the height of primary school children in England and Scotland from 1972-1980. Ann Hum Biol. 1984 Jan-Feb;11(1):1–16. doi: 10.1080/03014468400006841. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Cole T. J. Do growth chart centiles need a face lift? BMJ. 1994 Mar 5;308(6929):641–642. doi: 10.1136/bmj.308.6929.641. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Cole T. J., Green P. J. Smoothing reference centile curves: the LMS method and penalized likelihood. Stat Med. 1992 Jul;11(10):1305–1319. doi: 10.1002/sim.4780111005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Colley N. V., Tremble J. M., Henson G. L., Cole T. J. Head circumference/abdominal circumference ratio, ponderal index and fetal malnutrition. Should head circumference/abdominal circumference ratio be abandoned? Br J Obstet Gynaecol. 1991 Jun;98(6):524–527. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1991.tb10363.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Healy M. J. Notes on the statistics of growth standards. Ann Hum Biol. 1974 Jan;1(1):41–46. doi: 10.1080/03014467400000041. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Lindgren G., Aurelius G., Tanner J., Healy M. Standards for height, weight and head circumference from one month to six years based on Stockholm children born in 1980. Acta Paediatr. 1994 Apr;83(4):360–366. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1994.tb18120.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Rona R. J., Altman D. G. National study of health and growth: standards of attained height, weight and triceps skinfold in English children 5 to 11 years old. Ann Hum Biol. 1977 Nov;4(6):501–523. doi: 10.1080/03014467700002511. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Rona R. J., Chinn S. National Study of Health and Growth: social and biological factors associated with height of children from ethnic groups living in England. Ann Hum Biol. 1986 Sep-Oct;13(5):453–471. doi: 10.1080/03014468600008631. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Rona R. J., Chinn S. National Study of Health and Growth: social and biological factors associated with weight-for-height and triceps skinfold of children from ethnic groups in England. Ann Hum Biol. 1987 May-Jun;14(3):231–248. doi: 10.1080/03014468700009001. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. TANNER J. M., WHITEHOUSE R. H. Standards for subcutaneous fat in British children. Percentiles for thickness of skinfolds over triceps and below scapula. Br Med J. 1962 Feb 17;1(5276):446–450. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.5276.446. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Tanner J. M., Whitehouse R. H. Clinical longitudinal standards for height, weight, height velocity, weight velocity, and stages of puberty. Arch Dis Child. 1976 Mar;51(3):170–179. doi: 10.1136/adc.51.3.170. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Tanner J. M., Whitehouse R. H., Takaishi M. Standards from birth to maturity for height, weight, height velocity, and weight velocity: British children, 1965. I. Arch Dis Child. 1966 Oct;41(219):454–471. doi: 10.1136/adc.41.219.454. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Tanner J. M., Whitehouse R. H., Takaishi M. Standards from birth to maturity for height, weight, height velocity, and weight velocity: British children, 1965. II. Arch Dis Child. 1966 Dec;41(220):613–635. doi: 10.1136/adc.41.220.613. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Voss L. D., Wilkin T. J., Betts P. R. Do we need new growth charts? Lancet. 1987 Aug 22;2(8556):447–448. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(87)90975-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Voss L., Walker J., Lunt H., Wilkin T., Betts P. The Wessex Growth Study: first report. Acta Paediatr Scand Suppl. 1989;349:65–83. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1989.tb17171.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Wright C. M., Matthews J. N., Waterston A., Aynsley-Green A. What is a normal rate of weight gain in infancy? Acta Paediatr. 1994 Apr;83(4):351–356. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1994.tb18118.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Wright C. M., Waterston A., Aynsley-Green A. Comparison of the use of Tanner and Whitehouse, NCHS, and Cambridge standards in infancy. Arch Dis Child. 1993 Oct;69(4):420–422. doi: 10.1136/adc.69.4.420. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Wright C. M., Waterston A., Aynsley-Green A. Effect of deprivation on weight gain in infancy. Acta Paediatr. 1994 Apr;83(4):357–359. doi: 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1994.tb18119.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. van 't Hof M. A., Wit J. M., Roede M. J. A method to construct age references for skewed skinfold data, using Box-Cox transformations to normality. Hum Biol. 1985 Feb;57(1):131–139. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Archives of Disease in Childhood are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES