6 Percentiles that measure children’s growth

The growth percentiles are a statistical tables that pediatricians use to know if a child is within reference values for his age, for example, in terms of. In order to know how to correctly interpret these growth curves, a registry of data obtained from the child population which are ordered from lowest to highest and are used to create the graphs with the average percentiles.

The percentiles and standard growth charts are a very important aid in the pediatricians consultation when it comes to detecting abnormalities in the normal development of a child and they help to detect deviations in their development.

What percentiles are there and what do they measure?

Thanks to the percentiles we can study an infinity of anthropometric measures of the population. That is why, during the time we must make sure that the child remains in the same percentile level. A sharp fall in the table after having maintained good growth should make us suspect some pathology.

Length or height

We talk about length up to two years and from size from two years. This follow-up allows us to detect children with lower growth than that corresponding to age and, for example, to initiate a study of possible dwarfism.

Weight

Detecting that a child is underweight will alert us to a possible hormonal disturbance or malabsorption. Above the 85th percentile we would speak of overweight and above 95 of.

Body mass index (BMI)

The body mass index is calculated from the weight and height of the individual and the abdominal circumference. BMI does not take into account body fat distribution. However, the measurement of the abdominal girth quantifies the excess abdominal fat, related to an increased risk of suffering cardiovascular events.

Head circunference

A smaller head circumference or microcephaly will help us to rule out a possible genetic disease.

Abdominal perimeter

If it is elevated, we will take care of a thorough abdominal examination.

Skin fold

An increased fold will lead us to screening for overweight.

Although there are more percentiles, these allow us to monitor the correct growth of the child and even predict their or detect possible alterations. For example, if a child goes from the 60th percentile to the 10th percentile in weight, an alarm will be raised regarding the evolution of his weight.

In Spain they are used two types of tables as references in consultation:

• Tables of the Orbegozo Foundation of Bilbao: most of the autonomous communities use these tables. They are based on a study carried out on children from Bilbao, whose data can be extrapolated to any autonomous community
• Tables of the World Health Organization: used in some autonomous communities. Made from a study carried out with children from Brazil, Ghana, India, Norway, Oman and the United States.

If a baby is in the 50th percentile of weight, we are meaning that, in a sample of 100 babies of the same age and sex, the weight of that baby would occupy position 50. When the baby is in the 75th percentile of weightWe are meaning that it is slightly higher than the average of the population of the same age and sex, that is, of 100 children there are 75 children with less weight and 25 with more weight. If your baby is in the 80th percentile height it means that out of every 100 babies of the same age and sex, there are 20 who are taller and 80 who are shorter.

From all this it is easy to deduce that the 50th percentile It refers to value that is right in the middle of all population records. In our context and given that the tables we use are made from figures collected in Spanish children, the common thing is to belong to the 50th percentile although there is a normal range above and below. Family Medicine Specialist