Construction of National Standards of Weight and Height and Growth Charts of Iranian Children: A Review Article

OBJECTIVES: Growth charts are the most important evaluation tools for the assessment of growth and development of children which could be further used to develop preventive interventions. This study was undertaken with the aim of reviewing different current growth curves, their advantages and disadvantages, and performing a review of the studies conducted in Iran and other countries on determination of weight and height standards. METHODS: In order to collect materials for this review, a detailed search of Scientific Information Database (SID), Iran Medex, MEDLINE, PubMed, and Web of Science was carried out for the time period 2005-2010. RESULTS: The results of performed studies in European and Asian countries showed that the height and weight curves of these children were different from WHO and NCHS growth standards. The finding of growth trend study of Iranian children showed that the mean height and weight of girls and boys were increased. In spite of these increases, the median height and weight of Iranian girls and boys under 15 years was under 20(th) percentile of the United States National Center for the Health Statistics. CONCLUSIONS: Considering the epidemiological changes and existing genetic differences and different children's weight and height growth patterns, it seems that the global standard for the children's growth, including the WHO standards, are not applicable to all the populations and each country should construct a separate national standard.