Comparison of the World Health Organization (WHO) Child Growth Standards and the National Center for Health Statistics/WHO international growth reference: implications for child health programmes

OBJECTIVES: To compare growth patterns and estimates of malnutrition based on the World Health Organization (WHO) Child Growth Standards ('the WHO standards') and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS)/WHO international growth reference ('the NCHS reference'), and discuss implications for child health programmes. DESIGN: Secondary analysis of longitudinal data to compare growth patterns (birth to 12 months) and data from two cross-sectional surveys to compare estimates of malnutrition among under-fives. SETTINGS: Bangladesh, Dominican Republic and a pooled sample of infants from North America and Northern Europe. SUBJECTS: Respectively 4787, 10 381 and 226 infants and children. RESULTS: Healthy breast-fed infants tracked along the WHO standard's weight-for-age mean Z-score while appearing to falter on the NCHS reference from 2 months onwards.…