What Growth Charts Are Recommended?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommend that health care providers in primary care settings use the:
- World Health Organization (WHO) growth standard charts to monitor growth in infants and children aged birth to 2 years (Grummer-Strawn, Reinold, Krebs, 2010). The WHO growth charts are available at https://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/who_charts.htm.
- 2000 CDC Growth Charts to monitor growth in US children aged 2 to 20 years (Grummer-Strawn, Reinold, Krebs, 2010). These include stature-for-age charts, weight-for-age charts, and BMI-for-age growth charts.
- 2022 CDC Extended BMI-for-Age Growth Charts for children with very high BMIs (Hales, Freedman, Akinbami, et al., 2022 [PDF-2.7MB]). These growth charts are optimized for children with a BMI above the 97th percentile for age and sex.
2000 CDC Growth Charts
The 2000 CDC Growth Charts include weight-for-age, stature-for-age, and BMI-for-age charts for boys and girls aged 2 to 20 years. CDC recommends that the BMI-for-age charts be used to screen for underweight, healthy weight, overweight, and obesity in all children and teens. The weight-for-age and stature-for-age charts can help determine the pattern of weight and stature separately, and aid in understanding the growth pattern observed on the BMI-for-age chart.
- Children 2 to 20 years: Boys BMI-for-age [PDF – 61 KB]
- Children 2 to 20 years: Boys stature-for-age and weight-for-age [PDF – 77 KB]
- Children 2 to 20 years: Girls BMI-for-age [PDF – 67 KB]
- Children 2 to 20 years: Girls stature-for-age and weight-for-age [PDF – 77 KB]
2022 CDC Extended BMI-for-Age Growth Charts
The 2022 CDC Extended BMI-for-Age Growth Charts include BMI-for-age charts for boys and girls aged 2 to 20 years, with four additional percentile curves above the 95th percentile (98th, 99th, 99.9th, and 99.99th percentiles). These charts are based on an updated reference population that includes children with obesity and severe obesity, and the charts can plot BMI up to 60 kg/m2. CDC recommends that clinicians use these charts to plot BMI for children aged 2 to 20 years with very high BMIs (above the 97th percentile).