I have to create charts (similar to growth charts) for children of ages 5 to 15 years (only 5,6,7 etc; there are no fractional values like 2.6 years) for a health variable which is non-negative, continuous and in the range of 50-150 (with only a few values outside this range). I have to create 90th, 95th and 99th percentile curves and also create tables for these percentiles. The sample size is about 8000. I checked and found following possible ways: 1. Find quantiles and then use loess method to get a smooth curve from these quantiles. The degree of smoothness can be adjusted by 'span' parameter. 2. Use LMS (Lambda-Mu-Sigma) method (e.g. using gamlss or VGAM packages in R). 3. Use quantile regression. What is the best way to do it? Thanks for your help. Edit: By 'best' I mean one of following two: a) The ideal method which will be acceptable to all; the 'gold standard' which is beyond dispute the correct method for creation of such growth curves. b) An easier, simpler method, which may have some limitations, but is an acceptable, quicker method.