Introduction:

Basic body measurements (height, weight, and body mass index) of children and adolescents are essential indicators in the field of health and sports talent identification and selection.

Objectives:

To identify and synthesize original research studies on basic body measurements in children and adolescents aged 2 to 18 years published between 2003 and 2018.

Materials and methods:

The search was carried out in PubMed, Epistemonikos, and Google Scholar between May 2017 and June 2018. The inclusion criteria established that the works to be analyzed should be original research articles published in English, Spanish or Portuguese and that they should discuss morphological profile, use basic body measurements or physical fitness measurements as reference criteria, include children and adolescents aged 2 to 18 years in their study population, and be published between 2003 and 2018 in open-access journals with an impact factor.

Results:

The search yielded 18 articles that described the morphological profile of children and adolescents aged 2 to 18 years; all had a cross-sectional design. Five papers were conducted in Colombia and the remaining 13 in countries or regions of America, Europe, and Asia.

Conclusion:

This systematic review allowed establishing reference values for height, weight, and BMI, and highlighted the variability of the basic body measurements associated with sex, age, and country of evaluation.

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