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German height references for children aged 0 to under 18 years compared to WHO and CDC growth charts

Angelika Schaffrath Rosario1, Anja Schienkiewitz, Hannelore Neuhauser

  • 1Robert Koch-Institute, Department of Epidemiology and Health Reporting, Berlin, Germany.

Annals of Human Biology
|October 14, 2010
PubMed

Insights

New German height-for-age percentiles (KiGGS) are presented for children and adolescents. These KiGGS references are recommended for national growth monitoring and international comparisons using WHO and CDC charts.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Endocrinology
  • Growth Monitoring
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Accurate height-for-age references are crucial for assessing child growth and development.
  • Existing German height references (Kromeyer-Hauschild) are based on older, heterogeneous data.
  • International references (WHO, CDC) may not fully represent the German pediatric population.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To establish current height-for-age percentiles for German infants, children, and adolescents.
  • To compare these new references with existing German (KH) and international (WHO, CDC) growth charts.
  • To provide a basis for national growth screening and monitoring.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a nationally representative sample of 17,079 children and adolescents (0-17 years) from the KiGGS study (2003-2006).
  • Applied Cole's LMS method to create height-for-age reference curves.
  • Transformed KiGGS height data to SD-scores for comparison with KH, WHO, and CDC references.

Main Results:

  • Height-for-age percentiles show increases up to age 16 in girls and 17.98 years in boys.
  • Boys are generally taller than girls, with significant differences emerging during puberty.
  • KiGGS percentiles closely align with older German KH references but differ substantially from WHO and CDC references, often showing higher values.

Conclusions:

  • The KiGGS height-for-age references are recommended for national growth screening and monitoring in Germany from 4 months of age.
  • The KiGGS references provide a current, representative standard for the German pediatric population.
  • WHO and CDC references remain useful for international comparisons of German children's growth.
Abstract

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