title: Euro-Growth references for length, weight, and body circumferences. Euro-Growth Study Group.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Several concerns have been raised by World Health Organization (WHO) expert groups regarding the adequacy of currently existing growth references, including those currently supported by WHO. As part of a concerted action of the European Union, new references were developed that were based on a well-defined sample of the European population and were compared with existing references.
  
  
  METHODS
  During the longitudinal, observational multicenter study, anthropometric measurements using standardized methodology were performed in 2,245 children between 1 and 36 months of age, and sex- and age-specific growth references for recumbent length, weight, mid-upper arm, thigh, and calf circumferences were developed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The validity of the curve-fitting programs was demonstrated by comparing the selected sex-specific percentile distributions for all indices with the smoothed references. Comparison with the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)-WHO references for length and weight for age indicated that the -2 z-score value of the WHO reference as cutoff value shows that a substantial part of the children with suspected failure to thrive should be classified as normal. The references also indicate that the mid-upper arm circumference is age and sex dependent and that a single cutoff value for children less than 5 years of age should no longer be used. Mid-parental height was the best single predictor of recumbent length until 36 months of age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Euro-Growth references that were developed reflect growth of a well-defined, large cohort of healthy infants and can be used for international comparisons.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, University of Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Haschke
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: van't Hof
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000886:Anthropometry; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006128:Growth; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D014944:World Health Organization