{
  "abstract": "Background To establish sex-specific growth references for children aged 0–60 months in Ningbo, China and to compare with the WHO and the Chinese national standards.Methods A retrospective longitudinal “WeChildren-Ningbo” cohort study was performed for all registered births between January 2013 and December 2019. Anthropometric measurements (length/height and weight) were obtained at 10 follow-up time points: at birth, 3 m, 6 m, 12 m, 18 m, 24 m, 30 m, 36 m, 48 m and 60 months. Sex-specific growth curves were presented by both percentiles (3rd, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th and 97th percentiles) and modified Z-score with median and SD based on empirical data. The generalised additive models for location, scale and shape modelling were applied to construct the percentile curves.Results Sex-specific growth curves were presented by both percentiles (3rd, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th and 97th percentiles) and modified Z-score with median and SD. A total of 477 411 subjects were enrolled and 20 standardised sex-specific growth curves were constructed for weight-for-age, height-for-age and body mass index-for-age. Boys exhibited averagely higher height and weight at each follow-up than girls, and the largest sex differences were observed at 3 months. Ningbo children’s growth curves aligned well with the Chinese national standard, but were higher than the WHO standard, especially in children younger than 36 months.Conclusion This study established population-based, sex-specific growth references for children aged 0–60 months in Ningbo, China. These regional references may complement existing national standards for local clinical assessment and contribute data for future multi-regional studies.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Women and Children’s Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"
      ],
      "name": "Lanqiu Lv"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Women and Children’s Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"
      ],
      "name": "Chen Jiang"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Public Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Health Technology Assessment, Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety of theMinistry of Education, Fudan University, Shanghai, China"
      ],
      "name": "Yangyang Zhu"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Jiangbei District Maternal and Child Health Care Institute, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"
      ],
      "name": "Yiming Zhao"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Ningbo Municipal Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"
      ],
      "name": "Sixuan Li"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Public Health and Nursing, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China"
      ],
      "name": "Fuzhi Lian"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Public Health and Nursing, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China"
      ],
      "name": "Haiyan Ma"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Women and Children’s Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"
      ],
      "name": "Libo Shu"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Women and Children’s Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"
      ],
      "name": "Xiuping Yang"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Women and Children’s Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"
      ],
      "name": "Xuejun Gu"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Women and Children’s Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"
      ],
      "name": "Xudong Zhao"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Women and Children’s Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"
      ],
      "name": "Sujun Hu"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Women and Children’s Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"
      ],
      "name": "Fang Cai"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Public Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Health Technology Assessment, Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety of theMinistry of Education, Fudan University, Shanghai, China"
      ],
      "name": "Hao Tang"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Women and Children’s Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"
      ],
      "name": "Tingting Zhou"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Women and Children’s Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"
      ],
      "name": "Yanli Hu"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Women and Children’s Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"
      ],
      "name": "Chanrong Fu"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Women and Children’s Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"
      ],
      "name": "Zhuojie Hu"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Women and Children’s Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"
      ],
      "name": "Shaojie Wang"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Women and Children’s Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"
      ],
      "name": "Dongmei Zong"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Women and Children’s Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"
      ],
      "name": "Wei Cheng"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Women and Children’s Hospital of Ningbo University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China"
      ],
      "name": "Yingbo Lv"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Public Health, NHC Key Laboratory of Health Technology Assessment, Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety of theMinistry of Education, Fudan University, Shanghai, China"
      ],
      "name": "Zhuohui Zhao"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Growth standards from birth to age 5: a population-specific retrospective longitudinal “WeChildren-Ningbo” study of 500 000 children and comparative analysis with WHO/national references",
  "uid": "93d73312-5169-53d1-99eb-602b579b5181"
}