Height and Weight Percentile Measurement Charts
Ian C. Langtree - Writer/Editor for Disabled World (DW)
Published: 2010/03/22 - Updated: 2024/08/18
Publication Type: Charts, Graphs, Tables
Topic: Medical Calculators and Charts - Publications List
Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main
Synopsis: Height and weight percentile growth charts and BMI charts compare a childs measurements with other children. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created the growth charts that are most commonly used in the United States.
Introduction
Using a percentile chart doctors can track children's growth rate as well as monitor how a child is growing in relation to other children.
Main Item
Height and weight percentiles are determined by growth charts and body mass index charts to compare a child's measurements with those of other children in the same age group.
Growth percentile charts vary for boys and girls as their growth rates and patterns differ. For either girls or boys there are two sets of percentile charts:
- A Height and Weight Percentile Chart for infants ages 0 to 3 years. (Up until babies are 36 months old, doctors will measure weight, length, as well as head circumference)
- A Height and Weight Percentile Chart for children ages from 2 to 20 years old. (Doctors will measure weight, height, and body mass index (BMI))
The 50th percentile represents the median, or average, height or weight for each age group, so that 50% of children will be above this point and 50% will be below it.
Children with a low weight to height percentile generally have a weight that is below the 3rd or 5th percentile for their age group - as well as a declining growth velocity (not gaining weight as expected) and/or a shift downward in their growth percentiles, crossing two or more percentiles on their growth charts.
Recent studies have shown that current growth charts for infants under 24 months overstate the expected weight of babies and lead to potentially obese children. This is due to the original charts being produced as far back as 1977, and were based on samples of middle class white American babies on high protein bottle fed diets at the time. In 2006 The World Health Organization altered the target height to weight percentile measurements to better represent healthier weight measurements. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created the growth charts that are most commonly used in the United States of America.
View an approximate Height to Weight Chart for Adults and a guide to Babies to Teenagers Average Height to Weight Chart.
NOTE: There is a wide range of healthy shapes and sizes among children. While growth charts are an important tool for monitoring children's development, they are just one of several tools used to ensure children grow and develop normally as they mature. Genetics, gender, nutrition, physical activity, health problems, environment, and hormones can, and do, influence a child's height to weight ratio.
Author Credentials: Ian was born and grew up in Australia. Since then, he has traveled and lived in numerous locations and currently resides in Montreal, Canada. Ian is the founder, a writer, and editor in chief for Disabled World. Ian believes in the Social Model of Disability, a belief developed by disabled people in the 1970s. The social model changes the focus away from people's impairments and towards removing barriers that disabled people face daily. To learn more about Ian's background, expertise, and achievements, check out his bio.