Height and weight of primary schoolchildren in Shiraz city, southern Iran, 2002.

This paper aims at presenting updated growth reference data for height and weight of 2,397 healthy schoolchildren (1,268 boys and 1,129 girls) aged 6.5-11.5 years in Shiraz (Iran), using a multistage sampling scheme. Our schoolchildren are now significantly taller and heavier for their age than their peers born 15 years earlier. However, the statistical models for estimating age-related centiles were consistent. A comparison of our current data with Centers for Disease Control growth charts for 2000 show that our height and weight medians correspond almost to the 40th centile of the latter, indicating less of a deficit than the previous growth study in Shiraz. We conclude that it is more realistic to use local growth standards for clinical work in Iran, which should be updated periodically.