A modified Michaelis-Menten equation estimates growth from birth to 3 years in healthy babies in the USA

Abstract Background Standard pediatric growth curves cannot be used to impute missing height or weight measurements in individual children. The Michaelis–Menten equation, used for characterizing substrate-enzyme saturation curves, has been shown to model growth in many organisms including nonhuman vertebrates. We investigated whether this equation could be used to interpolate missing growth data in children in the first three years of life and compared this interpolation to several common interpolation methods and pediatric growth models. Methods We developed a modified Michaelis–Menten equation and compared expected to actual growth, first in a local birth cohort (N = 97) then in a large, outpatient, pediatric sample (N = 14,695). Results The modified Michaelis–Menten equation showed excellent fit for both infant weight (median RMSE: boys: 0.22 kg [IQR:0.19; 90%