Longitudinal standards for growth velocity of infants from birth to 4 years born in West Azerbaijan Province of northwest Iran

OBJECTIVES 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.