NEW-SOUTH-WALES POPULATION-BASED BIRTH-WEIGHT PERCENTILE CHARTS

Objective: To derive newborn percentile charts using NSW population an d hospital-based data. Methodology: Birthweight data for liveborn sing leton infants were obtained from the New South Wales Midwives Data Col lection (MDC) from 1990 to 1994 inclusive (n = 42 2139). Data were als o collected from King George V Hospital (KGV) for liveborn singleton i nfants less than 35 weeks of gestation for 1982-89 inclusive, and for all gestations for 1990-95 inclusive (n = 30 610). Birthweight percent iles were derived using the MDC data separately for males and females. Head circumference (n = 29 090) and birth length percentiles (n = 26 973) were derived from the KGV data. Results: The charts derived from MDC data had generally higher percentiles than previously published ch arts. These represent the largest Australian population-based study pu blished to date. Conclusions: Periodic review of newborn growth charts is recommended because of changing ethnic and socio-economic factors.