A Weight Range Table for Children From 5 to 15 Years of Age

In a previous paper1on variability of weight in relation to height in school children, attention was directed to the fact that the range of weight increases with age for both sexes, but more for girls than for boys and more on the overweight than on the underweight side, and that in consequence the customary static allowance of 7 or 10 per cent for underweight and of 20 per cent for overweight irrespective of age and sex is seriously misleading. Moreover, the determination of a single standard figure of weight for each unit of height, age and sex is somewhat uncertain and on the whole unsatisfactory, since (contrary to common opinion) there are usually more overweight than underweight children and average or mean weights of a given series are probably too high. This is best demonstrated by frequency curves which almost invariably show the mode2or peak at