United States head circumference growth reference charts: birth to 21 years

Abstract

Objective: To produce a more reliable, continuous set of occipitofrontal head circumference (OFC) growth reference charts for males and females from birth to adulthood in the United States.

Study design: After investigating the strengths and shortcomings of previous reports, we combined the most recent statistically reliable reports of OFC growth reference data into a locally weighted regression analysis to estimate percentile curves. We used cross-sectional prospective local pediatric data to validate our results.

Results: We present new age- and sex-appropriate US OFC growth charts from birth to adulthood that include 3rd and 97th percentile cutoff values. Our local pediatric data validate that our new proposed OFC growth charts' assessment of attained OFC growth is comparable with previous references.

Conclusions: We have eliminated disagreements between multiple current references by unifying previously reported US OFC data into a single set of smoothed male and female growth reference charts from birth to adulthood. This will reduce confusion or errors in interpretation of normal versus abnormal measurements currently encountered by primary care clinicians and subspecialists when using OFC growth charts for the US pediatric population.