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Two groups were excluded from the reference population:
Very low birth weight (VLBW) infants were excluded from the reference
data because the growth pattern of VLBW infants, who are almost always
born premature, is markedly different from that of term infants weighing
2500 g or more. The number of VLBW infants in the reference data was small
resulting in the exclusion of less than 1 percent of the data from birth
through 35 months old.
NHANES III weight data for children 6 years and older were excluded to
avoid the influence of an increase in body weight that occurred between
the previous national surveys and the NHANES III survey. If these data
would have been included an upward shift in the weight-for-age and
BMI-for-age curves would have resulted.
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