Sex differences in weight in infancy and the British 1990 national growth standards.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if there is a sex difference in infancy in the new British national standards for weight (based on data from 1990).


METHODS
Weight data in a birth cohort were compared with the 1990 standards and Tanner and Whitehouse (1966) standards up to age 12 months.


METHODS
Newcastle upon Tyne.


METHODS
3418 term infants.


RESULTS
Our cohort showed a mean difference in standard deviation scores of 0.42 between boys and girls (P < 0.0001) when compared with the 1990 standards. Two and a half times as many girls as boys had weights below the 3rd centile during the first year, with an equivalent excess of boys above the 97th centile (P < 0.0001). Similar results were found with Tanner and Whitehouse standards.


CONCLUSIONS
These differences could result in substantial sex bias in the identification of poor growth in early childhood. The standards need modification.
Wright
C M
CM
Department of Child Health, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead.
Corbett
S S
SS
Drewett
R F
RF
D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D012015:Reference Standards; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D006113:United Kingdom; D015430:Weight Gain