User Rating 0.0
Total Usage 1 times
Is this tool helpful?

Your feedback helps us improve.

About

In the field of neonatology and pediatrics, precision is not a luxury; it is a necessity. The INTERGROWTH-21st Calculator is a specialized clinical tool designed to assess newborn size and monitor fetal growth patterns against the global standards established by the INTERGROWTH-21st Consortium. Unlike older reference charts that were often based on local populations or descriptive studies, these standards prescribe how fetuses and newborns should grow under optimal health conditions, making this tool applicable across diverse ethnic and geographical populations.

Accurate growth monitoring is the cornerstone of early detection for conditions such as Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) or macrosomia. By inputting gestational age, gender, and anthropometric measurements (weight, length, head circumference), clinicians can instantly derive exact percentiles and Z-scores. This data is critical for determining nutritional needs, planning interventions, and predicting long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes.

pediatrics neonatology growth chart fetal development anthropometry

Formulas

The calculator utilizes the LMS method (Lambda-Mu-Sigma) to normalize the distribution of anthropometric data. This allows for the calculation of Z-scores, which represent how many standard deviations a measurement is from the mean.

Z = (X ÷ M)L 1L × S

Where X is the physical measurement, M is the median, S is the coefficient of variation, and L is the Box-Cox power to remove skewness. If L is close to zero, the natural logarithm is used instead.

Reference Data

Gestational Age (Weeks)Parameter3rd Centile50th Centile (Median)97th Centile
24 WeeksWeight (kg)0.510.660.86
28 WeeksWeight (kg)0.891.151.49
32 WeeksWeight (kg)1.451.882.43
36 WeeksWeight (kg)2.162.783.56
40 WeeksWeight (kg)2.783.624.63
24 WeeksHead Circ. (cm)20.822.925.0
32 WeeksHead Circ. (cm)27.529.832.1
40 WeeksHead Circ. (cm)32.134.737.3
24 WeeksLength (cm)29.832.435.0
40 WeeksLength (cm)46.250.354.4

Frequently Asked Questions

INTERGROWTH-21st standards are prescriptive rather than descriptive. They describe how newborns should grow when free from nutritional or environmental constraints, making them a true global standard for healthy growth, whereas Fenton charts are largely based on cross-sectional data of preterm births.
A Z-score indicates the precise distance from the population mean. A Z-score of 0 aligns with the 50th percentile. Z-scores below -2 or above +2 generally indicate clinically significant deviations (e.g., small or large for gestational age) that may require medical investigation.
This specific tool covers the standard INTERGROWTH-21st newborn range from 24 to 42 weeks of gestation. For infants born before 24 weeks, specialized extremely preterm charts are recommended.
The database contains separate LMS parameter tables for males and females. Boys typically have slightly higher anthropometric measurements than girls at the same gestational age, and the algorithm adjusts for this biological difference automatically.