2000 CDC Growth Charts for the United States: methods and development.

This report provides detailed information on how the 2000 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) growth charts for the United States were developed, expanding upon the report that accompanied the initial release of the charts in 2000.

The growth charts were developed with data from five national health examination surveys and limited supplemental data. Smoothed percentile curves were developed in two stages. In the first stage, selected empirical percentiles were smoothed with a variety of parametric and nonparametric procedures. In the second stage, parameters were created to obtain the final curves, additional percentiles and z-scores. The revised charts were evaluated using statistical and graphical measures.