Height Velocity Chart

A height velocity chart plots the age on the x-axis against height gained per year on the y-axis.

From the chart you can see the fastest period of growth is in infancy, when a child grows about 18cm per year.

Growth rate slows in mid-childhood to about 6 cm per year, and increases again during the pubertal growth spurt.

Click to see larger version.

The shaded areas represent the normal limits for earlier or later puberty.

Height velocity is also normally distributed, and children tend to follow centiles.

A child has to grow with a height velocity above the 25th centile to maintain his or her position on a linear growth centile.

Growth failure can be defined as a height velocity below the 25th centile over at least 18 months.

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