Comparison of the growth standards between Saudi and American children aged 0-5 years.

Objective: To compare the national growth monitoring data with the National Centre for Health Statistics (NCHS) growth standards, which is currently used in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

Methods: A cross sectional study following World Health Organization criteria in determining sample size was adopted, whereby 24,000 children from 5 regions were selected to be the desired sample. One hundred and two Primary Health Care centers were also selected randomly from the 5 regions, from where the sample was drawn.