title: Comparative study of four growth models applied to weight and height growth data in a cohort of US children from birth to 9 years.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of our study was to compare the fit of four growth models for weight and height in contemporary US children between birth and 9 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  In Project Viva, we collected weight and height growth data between birth and 9 years. We compared the Jenss model, the adapted Jenss model that adds a quadratic term, and the Reed 1st and 2nd order models. We used the log likelihood ratio test to compare nested models and the Akaike (AIC)/Bayesian information criterion (BIC) to compare nonnested models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For weight and height, the adapted Jenss model had a better fit than the Jenss model (for weight: p < 0.0001), and the Reed 2nd order model had a better fit than the Reed 1st order model (for weight: p < 0.0001). Compared with the Reed 2nd order model, the adapted Jenss model had a better fit for both weight (adapted Jenss vs. Reed 2nd order, AIC: 66,974 vs. 82,791, BIC: 67,066 vs. 82,883) and height (adapted Jenss vs. Reed 2nd order, AIC: 87,108 vs. 87,612, BIC: 87,196 vs. 87,700).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this pre-birth study of children aged 0-9 years, for both weight and height the adapted Jenss model presented the best fit of all four tested models.
authors.affiliation: Obesity Prevention Program, Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School/Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, Mass., USA.
authors.forename: Nolwenn
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Regnault
authors.forename: Matthew W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Gillman
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kleinman
authors.forename: Sheryl
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rifas-Shiman
authors.forename: Jérémie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Botton
mesh_terms: D001499:Bayes Theorem; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011247:Pregnancy; D014481:United States