ArticleArchives of disease in childhood2016
Fit to WHO weight standard of European infants over time.
Article in Archives of disease in childhood, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Postnatal Rapid Weight Gain of Japanese Infants Based on the World Health Organization Child Growth Standards.Cureus · 2025Article
- Growth patterns in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy from Argentina and Germany.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Regional differences in short stature in England between 2006 and 2019: A cross-sectional analysis from the National Child Measurement Programme.PLoS medicine · 2021Article
- Weight centile crossing in infancy: correlations between successive months show evidence of growth feedback and an infant-child growth transition.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesThe 2006 WHO growth charts were created to provide an international standard for optimal growth, based on healthy, breastfed populations, but it has been suggested that Northern European children fit them poorly. This study uses infant weight data spanning 50 years to determine how well-nourished preschool children from different eras fit the WHO standard, and discuss the implications of deviations.
designFour longitudinal datasets from the UK and one from Finland were used comprising over 8000 children born between 1959 and 2003. Weights from birth to 2 years were converted to age-sex-adjusted Z scores using the WHO standard and summarised using Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape.
resultsWeights showed a variable fit to the WHO standard. Mean weights for all cohorts were above the WHO median at birth, but dipped by up to 0.5 SD to a nadir at 8 weeks before rising again. Birth weights increased in successive cohorts and the initial dip became slightly shallower. By age 1 year, cohorts were up to 0.75 SD above the WHO median, but there was no consistent pattern by era.
conclusionsThe WHO standard shows an acceptable, but variable fit for Northern European infants. While birth weights increased over time, there was, unexpectedly, no consistent variation by cohort beyond this initial period. Discrepancies in weight from the standard may reflect differences in measurement protocol and trends in infant feeding practice.
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Registered trials
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