RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Monitoring head size and growth using the new UK-WHO growth standard
JF Archives of Disease in Childhood
JO Arch Dis Child
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
SP 386
OP 388
DO 10.1136/adc.2010.200030
VO 96
IS 4
A1 Charlotte M Wright
A1 Hazel M Inskip
A1 Keith Godfrey
A1 Anthony F Williams
A1 Ken K Ong
YR 2011
UL http://adc.bmj.com/content/96/4/386.abstract
AB In order to assess the extent to which children in the UK will follow the UK-WHO head circumference standard, the authors used head circumference data from the Southampton Women's Survey (n=3159) and the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (n=15 208) in children aged 0–36 months, converted into z-scores using both the UK-WHO and UK1990 references. Rapid head growth was defined as crossing upwards through two major centile bands (1.33 SD). The UK-WHO standard identified many more infants with heads above the 98th centile than to the UK1990 reference (UK-WHO: 6–16% of infants at various ages; UK1990: 1–4%). Rapid head growth in the first 6–9 months was also much more common using the UK-WHO standard (UK-WHO: 14.6–15.3%; UK1990: 4.8–5.1%). Practitioners should be aware of these findings to avoid unnecessary referrals.