Towards Electronic Health Records-Based Paediatric Growth References: Results from the SwissPedGrowth Project
- 1University of Bern
Abstract
BACKGROUNDWe used anthropometric data from electronic health records (EHRs) of Swiss childrens hospitals to evaluate growth references and estimate centile curves.
METHODSWe received EHRs extracted from seven Swiss childrens hospitals and analysed two samples: all children with a height, weight, body mass index (BMI), or head circumference recording, and a subsample restricted to children without diseases potentially affecting growth, weighted to represent the general population. We calculated mean z-scores based on the World Health Organization growth references adopted for Switzerland in 2011 (CH-WHO 2011) and current Swiss growth references (Swiss 2026). We estimated sex-specific centile curves in the subsample using generalised additive models for location, scale, and shape.
RESULTSWe included 213,868 children with height, 448,002 with weight, 209,244 with BMI, and 67,397 with head circumference recordings. Mean z-scores in the all children sample were (CH- WHO 2011; Swiss 2026): height (0.10; -0.19), weight (0.16; -0.09), BMI (0.04; -0.07), head circumference (-0.28, -0.28); and in the subsample: height (0.34; 0.00), weight (0.27; 0.01), BMI (0.18; 0.05), and head circumference (0.04; 0.01). The 50th height, weight, BMI, and head circumference centiles of girls and boys in the subsample closely followed those of Swiss 2026, with slightly wider 3rd and 97th centiles in infancy and adolescence.
CONCLUSIONHeight, weight, BMI, and head circumference centiles aligned well with the Swiss 2026 growth references in Switzerland, demonstrating that hospital EHRs could contribute to future growth references.
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BibTeX
@misc{leuenberger2026towards,
title = {{Towards Electronic Health Records-Based Paediatric Growth References: Results from the SwissPedGrowth Project}},
author = {L. M. Leuenberger and Y. Shoman and F. Romero and M. Sasaki and X. Deligianni and N. Goebel and R. Mozun and J. A. Bielicki and M.-A. Burckhardt and C. Saner and V. Schwitzgebel and M. Hauschild and F. Righini Grunder and P. Mueller and L. J. Schlapbach and O. Jenni and B. D. Spycher and C. E. Kuehni and F. N. Belle and SwissPedHealth consotrium},
howpublished = {medRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.64898/2026.08.28.26361619},
url = {https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.28.26361619v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Towards Electronic Health Records-Based Paediatric Growth References: Results from the SwissPedGrowth Project
AU - L. M. Leuenberger
AU - Y. Shoman
AU - F. Romero
AU - M. Sasaki
AU - X. Deligianni
AU - N. Goebel
AU - R. Mozun
AU - J. A. Bielicki
AU - M.-A. Burckhardt
AU - C. Saner
AU - V. Schwitzgebel
AU - M. Hauschild
AU - F. Righini Grunder
AU - P. Mueller
AU - L. J. Schlapbach
AU - O. Jenni
AU - B. D. Spycher
AU - C. E. Kuehni
AU - F. N. Belle
AU - SwissPedHealth consotrium
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/28
PB - medRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.08.28.26361619
UR - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.28.26361619v1
AB - BACKGROUNDWe used anthropometric data from electronic health records (EHRs) of Swiss childrens hospitals to evaluate growth references and estimate centile curves. METHODSWe received EHRs extracted from seven Swiss childrens hospitals and analysed two samples: all children with a height, weight, body mass index (BMI), or head circumference recording, and a subsample restricted to children without diseases potentially affecting growth, weighted to represent the general population. We calculated mean z-scores based on the World Health Organization growth references adopted for Switzerland in 2011 (CH-WHO 2011) and current Swiss growth references (Swiss 2026). We estimated sex-specific centile curves in the subsample using generalised additive models for location, scale, and shape. RESULTSWe included 213,868 children with height, 448,002 with weight, 209,244 with BMI, and 67,397 with head circumference recordings. Mean z-scores in the all children sample were (CH- WHO 2011; Swiss 2026): height (0.10; -0.19), weight (0.16; -0.09), BMI (0.04; -0.07), head circumference (-0.28, -0.28); and in the subsample: height (0.34; 0.00), weight (0.27; 0.01), BMI (0.18; 0.05), and head circumference (0.04; 0.01). The 50th height, weight, BMI, and head circumference centiles of girls and boys in the subsample closely followed those of Swiss 2026, with slightly wider 3rd and 97th centiles in infancy and adolescence. CONCLUSIONHeight, weight, BMI, and head circumference centiles aligned well with the Swiss 2026 growth references in Switzerland, demonstrating that hospital EHRs could contribute to future growth references.
ER -