REFERENCE DATA FOR WEIGHT, STATURE, AND WEIGHT STATURE IN MEXICAN-AMERICANS FROM THE HISPANIC-HEALTH-AND-NUTRITION-EXAMINATION-SURVEY (HHANES 1982-1984)

Data for weight, stature, and weight/stature2 from 3580 Mexican-American children from the HHANES survey have been used to obtain selected age- and sex-specific empirical percentiles. These have been compared with corresponding percentiles for white children in the NHANES II survey. There were no significant differences between these data sets (p < 0.05) for weight in males but the 50th and 95th percentiles were significantly higher for female Mexican Americans. After about 12 y, the upper stature percentiles in the boys and all stature percentiles in the girls tended to be lower in the Mexican Americans. These differences were significant for the 50th and 90th percentiles in the females but not for any percentiles in the males. In each sex, almost all the weight/stature2 percentile levels were significantly higher in the Mexican Americans.