title: Developing differential height, weight and body mass index references for girls that reflect the impact of the menarche.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Growth is both a matter of amplitude and tempo. We aimed to develop references for body height, body weight and body mass index (BMI) with respect to tempo of maturity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data obtained from the German KiGGS study (2003-2006) on body height, body weight and presence or absence of the menarche were re-analysed in 3776 girls, aged 10-17 years. We developed smoothed centiles for BMI-, body-height- and body-weight-for-age using the LMS method for premenarcheal and postmenarcheal girls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Body height, body weight and BMI differed significantly between premenarcheal and postmenarcheal girls. On average, postmenarcheal girls aged 11-17 years were 5.3 cm taller and 9.7 kg heavier, and their BMI was 2.9 kg/m² higher than in premenarcheal girls of the same calendar age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Adolescent BMI rises with calendar age and biological age. New reference charts for adolescent girls aged 10-18 years were generated to be inserted into the currently used references to avoid misclassifying underweight and overweight pubertal girls.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, Human Biology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mumm
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Scheffler
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hermanussen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008572:Menarche; D012016:Reference Values
keywords: Body mass index; Body mass index reference values; Menarche; Obesity; Overweight