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Bright Futures in Practice: Physical Activity

TOOL H: CDC GROWTH CHARTS

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) clinical growth charts are a tool to assess the health and well-being of infants, children, and adolescents. The following gender-specific growth charts are available:

  • Charts for infants, birth to 36 months, which provide length-for-age, weight-for-age, head circumference-for-age, and weight-for-length percentiles
  • Charts for children and adolescents, 2 to 20 years, which provide stature-for-age, weight-for-age, and body-mass-index (BMI)-for-age percentiles
  • A chart for children, 2 to 5 years, which provides weight-for-stature percentiles

The growth charts appear in the pocket located at the back of this guide. They can also be downloaded from the CDC Web site: http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts.

BMI correlates with an individual's total body fat content or percentage of body fat. BMI can be used to monitor changes in body weight and to consistently assess risk of underweight and overweight in children and adolescents 2 to 20 years.

The interpretation of BMI depends on the child's or adolescent's age. Established cut-off points should be used to identify underweight and overweight children and adolescents. The following BMI-for-age percentile cutoffs may indicate a health risk. In these cases, further health screening and assessment (including nutrition, physical activity, and laboratory tests) is recommended.

  • Underweight: BMI-for-age less than the 5th percentile
  • At risk for overweight: BMI-for-age greater than or equal to the 85th percentile but less than the 95th percentile
  • Overweight: BMI-for-age greater than or equal to the 95th percentile

 

  
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