A health professional's guide to using growth charts.

This guide describes ways to use and interpret the 2000 CDC Growth Charts 1 to assess physical growth in infants, children and adolescents. During routine screening, physical growth is assessed using a child’s weight, length/stature, and head circumference (infants & toddlers). One-time measurements, taken and plotted accurately on a growth chart, maybe used to screen children for nutritional risk. However, they do not provide adequate information to determine a child’s growth pattern. A series of weight and length/stature measurements are more informative.