Introduction:

Physical growth, in terms of weight, height and body mass index (BMI), is a relevant parameter that reflects the growth and development pattern of a community.

Objective:

To construct reference growth curves for weight, height and BMI of children and adolescents (2-18 years) from the department of Huila, Colombia.

Materials and methods:

Cross-sectional analytical study conducted using data from 130 599 children and adolescents (males, n=65 467; females, n=65 132) registered between 2009 and 2016 in the System for the Identification of Potential Beneficiaries of Social Programs. The LMS method was used to establish weight-for-age, height-for-age and BMI-for-age percentiles (3rd, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, 97th) for each age range (every six months). Reference centile curves were created using the LMSchartmaker software.

Results:

According to the 50th percentile, the greatest increase of weight, height and BMI occurred in males between 13 and 14 years (5.09kg), 2 and 3 years (8.90cm), and 13 and 14 years (0.66kg/m2), respectively. In females, the greatest increase occurred between 12 and 13 years (4.54kg), 2 and 3 years (7.36cm), and 13 and 14 years (0.94kg/m2). Furthermore, at 18 years, weight, height, and BMI were 61.01kg, 168.58cm and 20.65kg/m2 and 55.76kg, 157.64cm and 21.88kg/m2 in males and females, respectively.

Conclusions:

The reference weight-for-age and height-for-age growth values in the pediatric population of Huila are lower than the reference values described by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, as well as those reported in European countries and in Colombia (the latter with the exception of height at 5 years and weight at 18 years in females).

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