Aims. To provide growth references for
school-aged children in western Romania, to
compare them with other national and
international growth charts and evaluate the
prevalence of overweight and obesity.
Methods. A total of 3731 children, aged
7-19 years, from Timis county, were
examined by medical students, between
February 2010-June 2011. Growth references
for height, weight, and body mass index
(BMI) were constructed with LMS method
and LMSChartMaker software. The
Romanian 3rd, 50th and 95th percentile for
height and BMI were compared with national
and international growth references. The
prevalence of overweight and obesity was
determined with IOTF definition.
Results. Crude and smoothed
percentiles for weight, height and BMI were
shown for this population. The comparison
provided data regarding the variation of
growth models in different populations. Our
results demonstrated a high prevalence of
overweight (18.2%) and obesity (7.2%) in our
population, higher in boys versus girls.
Conclusions. Our study constructed
growth references for a Romanian population.
The comparison with other growth references
reflected the regional differences in growth
patterns between populations.