Fenton Preterm Growth Charts
- Reference measures: weight for gestational age, length for gestational age, head circumference for gestational age
- Reference data
- Weight for gestational age based on preterm pooled data from Germany, the United States, Canada, Australia, Scotland, and Italy.
- Length for gestational age and head circumference for gestational age based on preterm pooled data from the United States and Italy.
- Post-term data: World Health Organization (WHO) child growth standards (Multicentre Growth Reference Study).
- Comments
- Sex specific.
- 3rd to 97th percentiles.
- Preterm portion is descriptive data with curves created from a meta-analysis.
- Post-term portion is prescriptive data from a combination of cross-sectional national survey data and longitudinal data.
- Growth charts
Olsen Intrauterine Growth Curves for 23 to 41 Weeks’ Gestational Age
- Reference measures: weight for age, length for age, head circumference for age, body mass index (BMI) for age.
- Reference data: descriptive data from a large sample of US birth data (1998–2006), ethnically representative US births. Because Fenton has updated data to 2013 and has included a revision to smooth the data between preterm and WHO estimates, Fenton charts should be used.
- Comments
- Only set of intrauterine growth curves with weight, length, head circumference, and BMI for age created from using the same data source for all curves
- Sex specific
- 3rd to 97th percentiles
- Growth curves
- Females: birth weight for gestational age
- Females: length and head circumference for gestational age
- Males: birth weight for gestational age
- Males: length and head circumference for gestational age
- For use with Olsen intrauterine growth curves
- Olsen BMI-for-age curves, for quantifying disproportionate weight for length.
- Olsen/WHO 39 to 50 weeks’ gestational age: updated graphical version.
- Williamson postnatal BMI-for-age data: The data represent actual growth and remain consistently below the intrauterine curves that represent optimal growth. These are adjunct tools to the intrauterine curves for a complete assessment of growth in preterm newborns and infants.
The development of this resource was made possible with support from Abbott. The AAP maintains full independence in its editorial and strategic activities. Financial supporters have no influence over AAP content, policies, or leadership decisions.
Last Updated
02/13/2026
Source
American Academy of Pediatrics