COMPARISON OF METHODS FOR GROWTH CHART CONSTRUCTION IN THE CANADIAN HEALTH MEASURES SURVEY

Abstract

Quantile and GAMLSS methods for growth curves are described and applied to data from the Canadian Health Measures Survey for child Body Mass Index (BMI) and triceps skinfold thickness. Both methods use cubic splines and GAIC is used to determine the extent of smoothness. Diagnostic worm plots were used to re ne the models. A measure of smoothness of the nal quantiles was developed and applied to the curves.