title: Longitudinal standards for growth velocity of infants from birth to 4 years born in West Azerbaijan Province of northwest Iran.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Growth velocity is an important factor to monitor for appropriate child growth. This study presents the growth velocity of infants based on length, weight, and head circumference.
  
  
  METHODS
  The subjects of this study were 308 neonates (160 boys and 148 girls) born in West Azerbaijan Province of northwestern Iran who were followed from birth for 4 years. The weights and lengths of the subjects were recorded at birth, 1, 2, 4, 6, and 9 months, and 1, 1.5, 2, 3, and 4 years of age, while the head circumferences were measured just up to 1.5 years of age. In this study, the Lambda-Mu-Sigma (LMS) method using LMS Chartmaker Pro (Institute of Child Health, London, UK) was utilized to obtain growth velocity percentiles.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After obtaining growth velocity charts for weight, length, and head circumference (5th, 50th, and 95th percentiles), the researchers could deduce that there was a sharp decrease in the velocity growth charts from birth to 2 years of age but these charts remained relatively stable up to 4 years for both sexes. Growth velocities for the length and weight of boys in the present sample are slightly but not significantly greater than those in girls through the first months of infancy and there was no significant difference between girls and boys up to 4 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This paper provided the first local growth velocity standards of length, weight, and head circumference for infants by analyzing longitudinal measurements produced for West Azerbaijan Province, which should be updated periodically. It seems that there has been a significant difference between the growth velocity of infants in northwestern Iran and southern Iran within the past few years.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, Medical School, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Parvin
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ghaemmaghami
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, Medical School, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyyed Mohammad Taghi
authors.initials: SMT
authors.lastname: Ayatollahi
authors.affiliation: Patient Safety Research Center, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran.
authors.forename: Vahid
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Alinejad
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, Medical School, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Elham
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Haem
keywords: Growth; Head circumference; Length; Velocity; Weight