“Failure to thrive” or failure to use the right growth chart?

Radcliffe, Barbara; Payne, Jan E; Porteous, Helen; Johnston, Simone G

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2007.tb01092.x

Topics

To the Editor: Growth charts are important tools in assessing the physical development of infants and children. Understanding and comparing the derivation and applicability of the new World Health Organization Child Growth Standards1 and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) growth charts2 is essential.

1 Southern Brisbane and Logan Breastfeeding Promotion and Training Coalition, Brisbane, QLD.
2 School of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD.

Correspondence: j.payne@qut.edu.au

1. World Health Organization. The WHO Child Growth Standards. http://www.who.int/childgrowth/en/index.html (accessed Apr 2007).
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Health Statistics. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. WHO Child Growth Standards. http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/who_standards.htm (accessed Apr 2007).
3. de Onis M, Garza C, Onyango AW, Borghi E. Comparison of the WHO child growth standards and the CDC 2000 growth charts. J Nutr 2007 137: 144-148.
4. Binns C, Lee M. Will the new WHO growth references do more harm than good? [letter]. Lancet 2006; 368: 1868-1869.
5. Olsen EM. Failure to thrive: still a problem of definition. Clin Pediatr (Phila) 2006 Jan-Feb; 45: 1-6.

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