Birth weight reference percentiles for Chinese.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a reference of population-based gestational age-specific birth weight percentiles for contemporary Chinese. METHODS: Birth weight data was collected by the China National Population-based Birth Defects Surveillance System. A total of 1,105,214 live singleton births aged ≥28 weeks of gestation without birth defects during 2006-2010 were included. The lambda-mu-sigma method was utilized to generate percentiles and curves. RESULTS: Gestational age-specific birth weight percentiles for male and female infants were constructed separately. Significant differences were observed between the current reference and other references developed for Chinese or non-Chinese infants. CONCLUSION: There have been moderate increases in birth weight percentiles for Chinese infants of both sexes and most gestational ages since 1980s, suggesting the importance of utilizing an updated national reference for both clinical and research purposes.