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WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study (MGRS)

A study in six countries of healthy breastfed children's growth. The study followed children from birth to 24 months and also measured a separate group aged 18 to 71 months. Its data were used to build the Child Growth Standards.

Also called MGRS

  • Study
  • In this atlas

Overview

Design
Community-based, multicountry; a longitudinal study from birth to 24 months combined with a cross-sectional study of children aged 18 to 71 months (PubMed abstract).
Phase
Not reported
Enrolled
  • 8,500 children (the abstract gives about 8,500 for the pooled sample) (unknown count) (The WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study: planning, study design, and methodology, retrieved )
Sponsor
Not recorded
Funder
Not recorded
Registry
Not reported
Started
Not reported
Primary completion
Not reported
Completion
Not reported
Countries
Brazil, Ghana, India, Norway, Oman, United States (The WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study: planning, study design, and methodology, retrieved )
Care setting
Community-based; mothers and newborns were enrolled at birth and visited at home in the longitudinal study. (The WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study: planning, study design, and methodology, retrieved )
Registry status
Not reported

Technical summary

Design paper abstract (Food and Nutrition Bulletin, March 2004): a community-based, multicountry project to develop growth references, with a longitudinal study from birth to 24 months and a cross-sectional study of children aged 18 to 71 months in Brazil, Ghana, India, Norway, Oman and the United States, about 8,500 children in the pooled sample. Inclusion criteria and the 21 home visits are in the claim on this page. The tool page says the Child Growth Standards were developed using data collected in this study. No registry record was found or searched for, so there are no registry dates or statuses, and the abstract gives no study dates. No results are recorded here: the standards paper has its own page.

Arms

Not reported

Findings

No findings are published for this study.

Claims and evidence

Context Children in the WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study (six countries)

Recipient
Child
Population
Healthy children from six countries: a longitudinal sample followed from birth to 24 months and a cross-sectional sample of children aged 18 to 71 months, about 8,500 children in the pooled sample.
Care setting
Community-based; mothers and newborns were screened and enrolled at birth and visited at home in the longitudinal study.
Geography
Brazil, Ghana, India, Norway, Oman and the United States
Life stage
Birth to 24 months (longitudinal) and 18 to 71 months (cross-sectional)
Gestational age
Not reported
Postnatal age
Not reported
Follow-up
Longitudinal study: 21 home visits from birth to 24 months, at weeks 1, 2, 4 and 6, monthly from 2 to 12 months, and every 2 months in the second year.
Eligibility: 5 inclusion criteria; 1 exclusion criterion
Included
  • Absence of health or environmental constraints on growth
  • Adherence to MGRS feeding recommendations
  • Absence of maternal smoking
  • Single term birth
  • Absence of significant morbidity
Excluded
  • Not stated in the source that was read

  • Description Observational Certainty not assessed

    The WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study (MGRS) is a community-based, multicountry project to develop growth references for infants and young children. Its design combines a longitudinal study from birth to 24 months with a cross-sectional study of children aged 18 to 71 months. The pooled sample from six countries (Brazil, Ghana, India, Norway, Oman and the United States) is about 8,500 children. Individual inclusion criteria were absence of health or environmental constraints on growth, adherence to MGRS feeding recommendations, absence of maternal smoking, single term birth and absence of significant morbidity. In the longitudinal study, mothers and newborns were enrolled at birth and visited at home 21 times. The authors expect the approach to establish the breastfed infant as the normative model for growth and development.

    Applies to Child
    • Healthy children from six countries: a longitudinal sample followed from birth to 24 months and a cross-sectional sample of children aged 18 to 71 months, about 8,500 children in the pooled sample.
    • Community-based; mothers and newborns were screened and enrolled at birth and visited at home in the longitudinal study.
    • Brazil, Ghana, India, Norway, Oman and the United States
    • Birth to 24 months (longitudinal) and 18 to 71 months (cross-sectional)
    • Gestational age Not reported
    • Postnatal age Not reported
    Follow-up Longitudinal study: 21 home visits from birth to 24 months, at weeks 1, 2, 4 and 6, monthly from 2 to 12 months, and every 2 months in the second year.
    Certainty method
    Not assessed
    Limitations
    Only the PubMed abstract was read; the full text was not. This is a design and methods paper from 2004, so it reports no growth results. The sample size is given as about 8,500, and the abstract does not say how many children were in each of the two studies. The abstract says the study subpopulations had socioeconomic conditions favourable to growth and low mobility, so the sample describes growth under those conditions.
    Last checked
    2026-10-15
    Next evidence check due
    Not scheduled
    Sources and citations (12)

    1. Supports The WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study: planning, study design, and methodology

      Publication · Food and nutrition bulletin · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. Published in Food and Nutrition Bulletin, March 2004 (PubMed gives the month only, so the source has no day-level publication date). The full text was not fetched. · DOI: 10.1177/15648265040251S103 · PMID: 15069916

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 1, fragment 1 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      f5fa306c2ca497d13a1dd82513173f6bb3969bfdfc2b254c641ee08b0350b14d
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    2. Supports The WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study: planning, study design, and methodology

      Publication · Food and nutrition bulletin · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. Published in Food and Nutrition Bulletin, March 2004 (PubMed gives the month only, so the source has no day-level publication date). The full text was not fetched. · DOI: 10.1177/15648265040251S103 · PMID: 15069916

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 1, fragment 2 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      f5fa306c2ca497d13a1dd82513173f6bb3969bfdfc2b254c641ee08b0350b14d
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    3. Supports The WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study: planning, study design, and methodology

      Publication · Food and nutrition bulletin · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. Published in Food and Nutrition Bulletin, March 2004 (PubMed gives the month only, so the source has no day-level publication date). The full text was not fetched. · DOI: 10.1177/15648265040251S103 · PMID: 15069916

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      f5fa306c2ca497d13a1dd82513173f6bb3969bfdfc2b254c641ee08b0350b14d
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    4. Supports The WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study: planning, study design, and methodology

      Publication · Food and nutrition bulletin · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. Published in Food and Nutrition Bulletin, March 2004 (PubMed gives the month only, so the source has no day-level publication date). The full text was not fetched. · DOI: 10.1177/15648265040251S103 · PMID: 15069916

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 3
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      f5fa306c2ca497d13a1dd82513173f6bb3969bfdfc2b254c641ee08b0350b14d
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    5. Background The WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study: planning, study design, and methodology

      Publication · Food and nutrition bulletin · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. Published in Food and Nutrition Bulletin, March 2004 (PubMed gives the month only, so the source has no day-level publication date). The full text was not fetched. · DOI: 10.1177/15648265040251S103 · PMID: 15069916

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 4, fragment 1 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract (context for the claim).
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      f5fa306c2ca497d13a1dd82513173f6bb3969bfdfc2b254c641ee08b0350b14d
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    6. Background The WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study: planning, study design, and methodology

      Publication · Food and nutrition bulletin · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. Published in Food and Nutrition Bulletin, March 2004 (PubMed gives the month only, so the source has no day-level publication date). The full text was not fetched. · DOI: 10.1177/15648265040251S103 · PMID: 15069916

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 4, fragment 2 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract (context for the claim).
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      f5fa306c2ca497d13a1dd82513173f6bb3969bfdfc2b254c641ee08b0350b14d
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    7. Supports The WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study: planning, study design, and methodology

      Publication · Food and nutrition bulletin · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. Published in Food and Nutrition Bulletin, March 2004 (PubMed gives the month only, so the source has no day-level publication date). The full text was not fetched. · DOI: 10.1177/15648265040251S103 · PMID: 15069916

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 5, fragment 1 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      f5fa306c2ca497d13a1dd82513173f6bb3969bfdfc2b254c641ee08b0350b14d
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    8. Supports The WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study: planning, study design, and methodology

      Publication · Food and nutrition bulletin · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. Published in Food and Nutrition Bulletin, March 2004 (PubMed gives the month only, so the source has no day-level publication date). The full text was not fetched. · DOI: 10.1177/15648265040251S103 · PMID: 15069916

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 5, fragment 2 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      f5fa306c2ca497d13a1dd82513173f6bb3969bfdfc2b254c641ee08b0350b14d
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    9. Supports The WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study: planning, study design, and methodology

      Publication · Food and nutrition bulletin · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. Published in Food and Nutrition Bulletin, March 2004 (PubMed gives the month only, so the source has no day-level publication date). The full text was not fetched. · DOI: 10.1177/15648265040251S103 · PMID: 15069916

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 6, fragment 1 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      f5fa306c2ca497d13a1dd82513173f6bb3969bfdfc2b254c641ee08b0350b14d
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    10. Supports The WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study: planning, study design, and methodology

      Publication · Food and nutrition bulletin · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. Published in Food and Nutrition Bulletin, March 2004 (PubMed gives the month only, so the source has no day-level publication date). The full text was not fetched. · DOI: 10.1177/15648265040251S103 · PMID: 15069916

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 6, fragment 2 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      f5fa306c2ca497d13a1dd82513173f6bb3969bfdfc2b254c641ee08b0350b14d
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    11. Background The WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study: planning, study design, and methodology

      Publication · Food and nutrition bulletin · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. Published in Food and Nutrition Bulletin, March 2004 (PubMed gives the month only, so the source has no day-level publication date). The full text was not fetched. · DOI: 10.1177/15648265040251S103 · PMID: 15069916

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 8, fragment 1 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract (context for the claim).
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      f5fa306c2ca497d13a1dd82513173f6bb3969bfdfc2b254c641ee08b0350b14d
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

    12. Supports The WHO Multicentre Growth Reference Study: planning, study design, and methodology

      Publication · Food and nutrition bulletin · Edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. Published in Food and Nutrition Bulletin, March 2004 (PubMed gives the month only, so the source has no day-level publication date). The full text was not fetched. · DOI: 10.1177/15648265040251S103 · PMID: 15069916

      Locator
      Abstract, sentence 8, fragment 2 of 2
      How it applies
      PubMed abstract.
      Retrieved
      Source effective date
      Not reported
      Source state
      Current
      Snapshot hash
      f5fa306c2ca497d13a1dd82513173f6bb3969bfdfc2b254c641ee08b0350b14d
      Reuse basis
      PubMed record fetched through NCBI E-utilities. Only the hash of the bytes is kept, because publisher copyright may apply to the abstract (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disclaimer/). Short factual quotations under 25 words, with the citation.

Record details

Record id
maternal:who-mgrs
Content hash
0320167431917c6c247985ecb2221fd70768c1eb8a49b930d0578985bb76756c