Adult height, nutrition, and population health

Preferences for Sexually Dimorphic Body Characteristics Revealed in a Large Sample of Speed Daters

While hundreds of studies have investigated the indices that make up attractive body shapes, these studies were based on preferences measured in the laboratory using pictorial stimuli. Whether these preferences translate into real-time, face-to-face evaluations of potential partners is unclear. Here, 539 (275 female) participants in 75 laboratory-based sessions had their body dimensions measured before engaging in round-robin speed dates. After each date, they rated each other’s body, face, personality, and overall attractiveness and noted whether they would go on a date with the partner. Women with smaller waists and lower waist-to-hip ratios were found most attractive, and men with broader shoulders and higher shoulder-to-waist (or hips) ratios were found most attractive. Taller individuals were preferred by both sexes. Our results show that body dimensions associated with greater health, reproductive value (in women), and formidability (in men) influence face-to-face evaluations of attractiveness, consistent with a role of intersexual selection in shaping human bodies.

Nutrition status in adult Chilean population: economic, ethnic and sex inequalities in a post-transitional country

OBJECTIVE

To assess the relationship between malnutrition, socioeconomic status (SES) and ethnicity in Chilean adult population.

DESIGN

Nationally representative survey (ENS) conducted in 2016-2017. Sociodemographic information, weight, height and hemoglobin (Hb) were measured (2003 ENS). Excess weight was defined as BMI ≥25 kg/m2. Undernutrition included underweight (BMI <18·5 kg/m2), short stature (height <1·49 m in women and <1·62 m in men) or anaemia (Hb <12 g/l). Education and household income level were used as indicators of SES; ethnicity was self-reported. We applied linear combinations of estimators to compare the prevalence of excess weight and undernutrition by SES and ethnicity.

SETTING

Chile.

PARTICIPANTS

In total, 5082 adults ≥20 years (64 % women) and 1739 women ≥20 years for anaemia analyses.

RESULTS

Overall, >75 % of women and men had excess weight. Low SES women either by income or education had higher excess weight ((82·0 (77·1, 86·1) v. 65·0 (54·8, 74·1)) by income; (85·3 (80·6, 89·0) v. 68·2 (61·6, 74·1) %) by education) and short stature (20-49 years; 31(17·9, 48·2) v. 5·2 (2·2,11·4) by education); obesity was also more frequent among indigenous women (20-49 years; 55·8 (44·4, 66·6) v. 37·2 (32·7, 42·0) %) than non-indigenous women. In men, excess weight did not significantly differ by SES or ethnicity, but short stature concentrated in low SES (20-49 years; 47·6 (24·6, 71·6) v. 4·5 (2·1, 9·5) by education) and indigenous men (21·5 (11·9, 5·5, 11·9) v. 8·2 (5·5, 11·9)) (P < 0·05 for all).

CONCLUSIONS

In Chile, malnutrition is disproportionately concentrated among women of low SES and indigenous origin; these inequalities should be considered when implementing prevention policies.

A lex naturalis delineates components of a human-specific, adrenal androgen-dependent, p53-mediated 'kill switch' tumor suppression mechanism

We have recently described in this journal our detection of an anthropoid primate-specific, adrenal androgen-dependent, p53-mediated, 'kill switch' tumor suppression mechanism that reached its fullest expression only in humans, as a result of human-specific exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons caused by the harnessing of fire - but which has components reaching all the way back to the origin of the primate lineage. We proposed that species-specific mechanisms of tumor suppression are a generalized requirement for vertebrate species to increase in body size or lifespan beyond those of species basal to their lineage or to exploit environmental niches which increase exposure to carcinogenic substances. Using empirical dynamic modeling, we have also reported our detection of a relationship between body size, lifespan, and species-specific mechanism of tumor suppression (and here add carcinogen exposure), such that a change in any one of these variables requires an equilibrating change in one or more of the others in order to maintain lifetime cancer risk at a value of about 4%, as observed in virtually all larger, longer-lived species under natural conditions. Here we show how this relationship, which we refer to as the lex naturalis of vertebrate speciation, elucidates the evolutionary steps underlying an adrenal androgen-dependent, human-specific 'kill switch' tumor suppression mechanism; and further, how it prescribes a solution to 'normalize' lifetime cancer risk in our species from its current aberrant 40% to the 4% that characterized primitive humans. We further argue that this prescription writ by the lex naturalis represents the only tenable strategy for meaningful suppression of the accelerating impact of cancer upon our species.

Secular decline in limb bone strength among South African Africans during the 19th and 20th centuries

OBJECTIVES

South African Africans have been reported to have experienced negative or null secular trends in stature and other measures of skeletal structure across the 19th and 20th centuries, presumably due to poor living conditions during a time of intensifying racial discrimination. Here, we investigate whether any secular trend is apparent in limb bone strength during the same period.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Cadaver-derived skeletons (n = 221) were analyzed from female and male South African Africans who were born between 1839 and 1970, lived in and around Johannesburg, and died between 1925 and 1991 when they were 17-90 years of age. For each skeleton, a humerus and femur were scanned using computed tomography, and mid-diaphyseal cross-sectional geometric properties were calculated and scaled according to body size.

RESULTS

In general linear mixed models accounting for sex, age at death, and skeletal element, year of birth was a significant (p < .05) negative predictor of size-standardized mid-diaphyseal cortical area (a proxy for resistance to axial loading) and polar moment of area (a proxy for resistance to bending and torsion), indicating a temporal trend toward diminishing limb bone strength. No significant interactions were detected between year of birth and age at death, suggesting that the decline in limb bone strength was mainly due to changes in skeletal maturation rather than severity of age-related bone loss.

DISCUSSION

Limb bone strength is thus potentially another feature of the skeletal biology of South African Africans that was compromised by poor living conditions during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Inhaled corticosteroid-phobia and childhood asthma: Current understanding and management implications

Asthma is the most prevalent chronic disease in children. Inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) is the first-line controller therapy for children with persistent asthma, however, suboptimal compliance to ICS therapy remains as a major obstacle in paediatric asthma management. Steroid-phobia, the fear of side-effects and subsequent aversion of ICS, has been widely reported in parents of asthmatic children. The reported prevalence of steroid-phobia varies widely from 19% to 67% in different populations. The concerns about ICS frequently raised by parents include growth suppression, weight gain, bone weakness, addiction and psychiatric disturbances. Outside of growth suppression, which is statistically significant yet mild in clinical studies, the other concerns are not evidence-based and are misconceptions. Conflicting results have been reported regarding the impact of steroid-phobia on ICS compliance. In contrast, steroid-phobia has consistent and negative effects on asthma control in children. While asthma educational programmes have demonstrable benefits in general paediatric populations, the generalisability of such programmes to steroid-phobic parents remains undetermined. There is a paucity of data on specific educational programmes to clear misconceptions and reduce steroid-phobia. Given the continually raising prevalence of paediatric asthma, high-quality studies are warranted to investigate the prevalence and impact of steroid-phobia, with an ultimate goal of developing effective strategies to tackle steroid-phobia and improve asthma care in children.

Applicability of the masseter muscle as a nutritional biomarker

Nutritional assessment is feasible with computed tomography anthropometry. The abdominal muscle at the L3 vertebra is a well-known nutritional biomarker for predicting the prognosis of various diseases, especially sarcopenia. However, studies on nutritional assessment of the brain using computed tomography are still scarce. This study aimed to investigate the applicability of the masseter muscle as a nutritional biomarker.Patients who underwent simultaneous brain and abdominopelvic computed tomography in the emergency department was retrospectively analyzed. We assessed their masseter muscle 2 cm below the zygomatic arch and abdominal muscle at L3 via computed tomography anthropometry. The skeletal muscle index, prognostic nutritional index, and other nutritional biomarkers were assessed for sarcopenia using the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.A total of 314 patients (240 men and 72 women) were analyzed (mean age, 50.24 years; mean areas of the masseter and abdominal muscles, 1039.6 and 13478.3 mm, respectively). Masseter muscle areas significantly differed in sarcopenic, obese, and geriatric patients (P < .001). The areas under the curve of the masseter muscle in sarcopenic, geriatric, and obese patients were 0.663, 0.686, and 0.602, respectively. Multivariable linear regression analysis showed a correlation with the abdominal muscle area, weight, and age.The masseter muscle, analyzed via computed tomography anthropometry, showed a statistically significant association with systemic nutritional biomarkers, and its use as a nutritional biomarker would be feasible.

Temporal Trends in Vertebral Dimensions - a case study from Finland

Vertebral fractures and other back problems represent a major, increasing worldwide health problem. This has increased the need to better understand the reasons behind this phenomenon. In addition to a reduction in bone mineral density and overall size of the vertebral body, research has indicated a possible association between the shape of the endplate and spinal disorders. As one previous study has shown changes in vertebral body dimensions between contemporary people and their medieval counterparts, we wanted to examine the potential temporal trends in vertebral size and dimensions in Finnish samples of archaeological and contemporary individuals. To conduct this study, we utilized three archaeological populations from the 16^th–19^th century and clinical materials from two population-based Finnish birth cohorts. As the average height of people has increased greatly since the first time period, we also height-adjusted the dimensions to provide a clearer picture of the dimensional changes that have occurred in the later temporal group. Our results were in agreement with those of the earlier study. The archaeological samples had a larger vertebral size than the contemporary population when height was adjusted for. Vertebral mediolateral width in particular had decreased, and the shape of the vertebral body had changed.

Evolutionary Strategies for Body Size

Humans show marked variation in body size around the world, both within and among populations. At present, the tallest people in the world are from the Netherlands and the Balkan countries, while the shortest populations are central African Pygmies. There are genetic, genetic plasticity, developmental, and environmental bases for size variation in Homo sapiens from the recent past and the present. Early populations of Homo species also have shown considerable size variation. Populations from the present and the past are also marked by sexual dimorphism, which, itself, shows group variation. There is abundant evidence for the effects of limited food and disease on human growth and resultant adult body size. This environmental influence has been reflected in "secular trends" (over a span of years) in growth and adult size from socioeconomic prosperity or poverty (availability of resources). Selective and evolutionary advantages of small or large body size also have been documented. Heritability for human height is relatively great with current genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identifying hundreds of genes leading to causes of growth and adult size variation. There are also endocrinological pathways limiting growth. An example is the reduced tissue sensitivity to human growth hormone (HGH) and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) in Philippine and African hunter-gatherer populations. In several short-statured hunter-gatherer populations (Asian, African, and South American), it has been hypothesized that short life expectancy has selected for early maturity and truncated growth to enhance fertility. Some island populations of humans and other mammals are thought to have been selected for small size because of limited resources, especially protein. The high-protein content of milk as a staple food may contribute to tall stature in East African pastoral peoples. These and other evolutionary questions linked to life history, male competition, reproduction, and mobility are explored in this paper.

Prevalence and determinants of gestational weight gain among pregnant women in Niger

Low gestational weight gain (GWG) and low mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) are associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. We aimed to assess the prevalence and determinants of low GWG and low MUAC among pregnant women in rural Zinder, Niger. A community-based survey was conducted among 1,384 pregnant women in the catchment areas of 18 integrated health centers in the region of Zinder, Niger. Weight and MUAC were measured during an in-home visit and again 1 month later, when haemoglobin concentration and micronutrient status were also assessed. The prevalence of low GWG was defined based on the 2009 United States Institute of Medicine (U.S. IOM) guidelines (<0.35 kg/week) and less than the third centile of the International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21st Century (INTERGROWTH-21st) standards. Factors associated with GWG and MUAC were identified using logistic regression models adjusting for season, village, and gestational age. The median (interquartile range) age was 25.0 (20.7, 30.0) years, and 16.4% were ≤19 years. The prevalence of low GWG were 62.9% and 27.5% according to 2009 IOM and less than the third INTERGROWTH-21st centile, respectively; 24.9% had low MUAC. Higher α-1-acid glycoprotein (OR = 1.7, 95% CI [1.1, 2.8]) and C-reactive protein (OR = 1.2, 95% CI [1.02, 1.50]) increased the odds of low GWG. Adolescents (OR = 2.7, 95% CI [1.8, 4.0]), housewives (OR = 1.97, 95% CI [1.36, 2.86]), and those who reported recent food assistance (OR = 1.80, 95% CI [1.04, 3.11]) had higher odds of low MUAC. Prevalence of low GWG and low MUAC was high among pregnant women. Determinants of GWG and MUAC included socio-economic, demographic, and biological factors, although only markers of inflammation were consistent predictors across different definitions of low GWG.

Adult height and risk of death from all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer-specific disease: The Rural Chinese Cohort Study

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

We aimed to evaluate the sex-specific association of height and all-cause and cause-specific mortality in rural Chinese adults.

METHODS AND RESULTS

A total of 17,263 participants (10,448 women) ≥18 years old were randomly enrolled during 2007-2008 and followed up during 2013-2014. Sex-specific hazard ratios (HRs) for the height-mortality association, assessed in quintiles or 5 cm increments, were calculated by Cox proportional-hazards models. For both men and women, tall participants showed a baseline prevalence of high levels of socioeconomic factors including income and education but low systolic blood pressure and total cholesterol level. During a median of 6.01 years of follow-up, 620 men (in 39,993.45 person-years) and 490 women (in 61,590.10 person-years) died. With increasing height, the risk of all-cause mortality decreased in a curvilinear trend after adjustment for baseline age, socioeconomic and behavioral factors, and anthropometric and laboratory measurements. For men, height was inversely associated with all-cause mortality (HR per 5 cm increase: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.83-0.96) and cardiovascular mortality (HR per 5 cm increase: 0.81, 95% CI: 0.72-0.91). For women, height was inversely associated with all-cause mortality (HR per 5 cm increase: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.81-0.96) and other mortality (HR per 5 cm increase: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.71-0.96).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study demonstrated a sex-specific inverse effect of height on mortality from different major causes in rural Chinese adults.

Association between height and hypertension in the adult Nepalese population: Findings from a nationally representative survey

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

The burden of hypertension is increasing in Nepal. Different studies have evaluated the relationship between height and blood pressure in different regions, with mixed results. The relationship between height and hypertension has not yet been explored in the Nepalese context. Given this knowledge gap, this study aims to determine the relationship between height and hypertension among Nepalese adults (aged ≥18 years).

METHODS

This study utilized the dataset from the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) 2016. Hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 mmHg and/or a diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mmHg. Height, measured in centimeters (cm), was analyzed as a continuous variable. Based on previous evidence, the following covariates were considered: age, sex, presence of overweight or obesity, educational status, household wealth status, and place, province, and ecological zone of residence. Multilevel multivariable logistic regression was done to evaluate the association between height and hypertension. Both crude odds ratio (COR) and adjusted odds ratio (AOR) are reported, along with a 95% confidence interval (CI). Sample weight of NDHS was adjusted during analysis.

RESULTS

Among 13 393 weighted individuals over the age of 18 years, the prevalence of hypertension in Nepal was found to be 21.1% (95% CI, 19.9%-22.4%). In the final multivariable model, after adjusting for relevant covariates, it was found that height was inversely associated with hypertension. For a Nepalese adult, the odds of hypertension decreased by 10% with each 10-cm increase in height (AOR 0.9; 95% CI 0.8-0.9; P = 0.003).

CONCLUSION

Awareness should be raised among people with low stature for prevention of hypertension. Longitudinal studies are recommended to include genetic and social/environmental determinants of stature in the analyses.

Interventions to improve linear growth during complementary feeding period for children aged 6-24 months living in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and network meta-analysis

Background: Optimizing linear growth in children during complementary feeding period (CFP) (6-24 months) are critical for their development. Several interventions, such as micronutrient and food supplements, deworming, maternal education, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), could potentially be provided to prevent stunting, but their comparative effectiveness is currently unclear. In this study, we evaluated comparative effectiveness of interventions under these domains on child linear growth outcomes of height-for-age z-score (HAZ) and stunting (HAZ <-2SD) Methods: For this study, we searched for low- and middle-income country (LMIC)-based randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of aforementioned interventions provided to children during CFP. We searched for reports published until September 17, 2019 and hand-searched bibliographies of existing reviews. We performed random-effects network meta-analysis (NMA) for HAZ and stunting. Results: The evidence base for our NMA was based on 79 RCTs (96 papers) involving 81,786 children. Among the micronutrients, compared to standard-of-care, iron + folic acid (IFA) (mean difference =0.08; 95% credible interval [CrI]: 0.01, 0.15) and multiple micronutrients (MMN) (mean difference =0.06; 95%CrI: 0.01, 0.11) showed improvements for HAZ; MMN also reduced the risks for stunting (RR=0.86; 95%Crl: 0.73, 0.98), whereas IFA did not (RR=0.92; 95%Crl: 0.64, 1.23). For food supplements, flour in the caloric range of 270-340 kcal (RR=0.73; 95%Crl: 0.51, 1.00) and fortified lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNS) containing 220-285 kcal (RR=0.80; 95%Crl: 0.66, 0.97) decreased the risk of stunting compared to standard-of-care, but these interventions and other food supplements did not show improvements for HAZ. Deworming, maternal education, and WASH interventions did not show improvements for HAZ nor stunting. Conclusion: While we found micronutrient and food supplements to be effective for HAZ and/or stunting, the evidence base for other domains in this life stage was limited, highlighting the need for more investigation. Registration: PROSPERO CRD42018110449; registered on 17 October 2018.

The Relation Between Household Food Insecurity and Children's Height in Canada and the United States: A Scoping Review

Household food insecurity is a determinant of health and marker of material deprivation. Although research has shown that food insecurity is associated with numerous adverse health, developmental and nutritional outcomes among children in high-income countries, little is known about its impact on children's height, an important marker of nutritional status and physical development. We reviewed evidence on the relation between experience-based measures of food insecurity and the height of children aged 0-18 y in Canada and the United States. The search, conducted in Embase, Medline, CINAHL, ProQuest, Web of Science, and EconLit from the inception of the databases to October 2017, identified 811 records that were screened for relevance. A total of 8 peer-reviewed studies, 2 from Canada and 6 from the United States, met the inclusion criteria and were summarized. Five studies found no association between food insecurity and children's height. One study found that having taller children in the household predicted more severe food insecurity, whereas 2 studies found that more severe experiences of food insecurity were associated with shorter height among children from ethnic minority populations. These results suggest that household food insecurity may not be associated with height inequalities among children in Canada and the United States, except perhaps in certain high-risk populations. However, the few studies identified for review provide insufficient evidence to determine whether food insecurity is or is not associated with children's height in these countries. Given the importance of optimal linear growth for current and future well-being, it is critical to understand how different modifiable environmental circumstances relate to children's height to help establish priorities for intervention. Families with children are disproportionately affected by food insecurity, and more research explicitly designed to examine the association between household food insecurity and children's height in high-income countries is needed.

Secular changes in limb lengths and proportions from 1952 to 2011 in children, adolescents, and young adults from Kolkata (India)

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the study was to investigate the intergenerational changes of upper and lower limb lengths as well as the values of the upper, lower limb, and intermembral indicators of children, adolescents, and young adults from Kolkata (India) between 1952 to 1966 and 2005 to 2011.

METHODS

The analysis was based on the results of anthropometric measurements of 7488 Bengali children, adolescents, and young adults. They were included in three cross-sectional surveys, carried out in 1955 to 1966, 1982 to 1983 (only males), and 2005 to 2011. The upper and lower limb lengths were obtained and the upper and lower limb indicators, as well as an intermembral index, were calculated. The differences between the cohorts were assessed using two-way ANOVA.

RESULTS

Positive, statistically significant, secular trends regarding the length of the lower and upper limbs as well as the value of the lower limb index were observed. Negative intergenerational changes were noted for the values of the upper limb indicator and intermembral index, suggesting that the secular increase of the length of the upper limbs was less pronounced than those of the body height and lower limbs length.

CONCLUSIONS

The secular increase regarding the lower limbs length was associated with the socioeconomic progress of the country, but the length of the upper limbs was less sensitive for those factors. It is also important to mention that there is still very little information on those characteristics in general, which further proves the need for similar studies.

Heterogeneity in adult anthropometry by socioeconomic factors: Indian National Family Health Survey 2006 and 2016

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

Recent evidence suggests nonconstant nature of dispersion in adult women's body mass index (BMI) across sociodemographic groups. The overall variances in BMI and height are also shown to have substantially changed over time. We modeled complex variation in adults' anthropometry-BMI and height-by wealth and education, and assessed their differences over time in India.

SUBJECTS/METHODS

Data from a total of 768,130 women and 180,691 men from the Indian National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2006 and 2016 were used for the analysis. The average association between wealth and education with anthropometry was assessed from linear regression models assuming constant variance. Individual heterogeneity was modeled to obtain separate variances in anthropometry for each wealth quintile and education level. All analyses were stratified by survey year and sex.

RESULTS

On average, the positive socioeconomic gradient in adult's BMI and height persisted over time with slight attenuation. The residual variance in BMI ranged from 10.1 to 14.9 (7.2-11.3) by education level and 6.1 to 17.4 (5.0-13.0) by household wealth for women (men) in 2006, and they increased over time for the lower socioeconomic groups but remained the same or decreased for the higher socioeconomic groups. No significant pattern was observed for variation in height for both genders.

CONCLUSIONS

We found potential reversal in the socioeconomic patterning in BMI variability in India as suggested by the increasing dispersion among the least educated and poorest populations. For a comprehensive understanding of nutrition transition in developing countries, it is necessary to assess the changes in means and variances of anthropometry in tandem.

Genetic contributions to variation in human stature in prehistoric Europe

Measurements of prehistoric human skeletal remains provide a record of changes in height and other anthropometric traits over time. Often, these changes are interpreted in terms of plastic developmental response to shifts in diet, climate, or other environmental factors. These changes can also be genetic in origin, but, until recently, it has been impossible to separate the effects of genetics and environment. Here, we use ancient DNA to directly estimate genetic changes in phenotypes and to identify changes driven not by genetics, but by environment. We show that changes over the past 35,000 y are largely predicted by genetics but also identify specific shifts that are more likely to be environmentally driven.

The relative contributions of genetics and environment to temporal and geographic variation in human height remain largely unknown. Ancient DNA has identified changes in genetic ancestry over time, but it is not clear whether those changes in ancestry are associated with changes in height. Here, we directly test whether changes over the past 38,000 y in European height predicted using DNA from 1,071 ancient individuals are consistent with changes observed in 1,159 skeletal remains from comparable populations. We show that the observed decrease in height between the Early Upper Paleolithic and the Mesolithic is qualitatively predicted by genetics. Similarly, both skeletal and genetic height remained constant between the Mesolithic and Neolithic and increased between the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Sitting height changes much less than standing height—consistent with genetic predictions—although genetics predicts a small post-Neolithic increase that is not observed in skeletal remains. Geographic variation in stature is also qualitatively consistent with genetic predictions, particularly with respect to latitude. Finally, we hypothesize that an observed decrease in genetic heel bone mineral density in the Neolithic reflects adaptation to the decreased mobility indicated by decreased femoral bending strength. This study provides a model for interpreting phenotypic changes predicted from ancient DNA and demonstrates how they can be combined with phenotypic measurements to understand the relative contribution of genetic and developmentally plastic responses to environmental change.

Complex Phenotypes: Mechanisms Underlying Variation in Human Stature

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

The goal of the review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the current understanding of the mechanisms underlying variation in human stature.

RECENT FINDINGS

Human height is an anthropometric trait that varies considerably within human populations as well as across the globe. Historically, much research focus was placed on understanding the biology of growth plate chondrocytes and how modifications to core chondrocyte proliferation and differentiation pathways potentially shaped height attainment in normal as well as pathological contexts. Recently, much progress has been made to improve our understanding regarding the mechanisms underlying the normal and pathological range of height variation within as well as between human populations, and today, it is understood to reflect complex interactions among a myriad of genetic, environmental, and evolutionary factors. Indeed, recent improvements in genetics (e.g., GWAS) and breakthroughs in functional genomics (e.g., whole exome sequencing, DNA methylation analysis, ATAC-sequencing, and CRISPR) have shed light on previously unknown pathways/mechanisms governing pathological and common height variation. Additionally, the use of an evolutionary perspective has also revealed important mechanisms that have shaped height variation across the planet. This review provides an overview of the current knowledge of the biological mechanisms underlying height variation by highlighting new research findings on skeletal growth control with an emphasis on previously unknown pathways/mechanisms influencing pathological and common height variation. In this context, this review also discusses how evolutionary forces likely shaped the genomic architecture of height across the globe.

Predicting women's height from their socioeconomic status: A machine learning approach

The social determinants of health literature routinely deploy socio-economic status (SES) as a key factor in accounting for women's height-an established indicator of human welfare at the population level-using traditional regression. However, this literature lacks a systematic identification of the predictive power of SES as well as the possible non-linear relationships between the measures of SES (education, occupation, and material wealth) in predicting variation in women's height. This study aims to evaluate this predictive power. We used the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) from 66 low- and middle-income countries (women = 1,273,644), sampled between 1994 and 2016. The analysis consisted of training seven machine-learning algorithms of different function classes and assessing their predictive power out-of-sample, vis-à-vis OLS regression. In an OLS framework, SES accounts for 0.7%, R2, of the total variance in women's height (from σOLSFix2 = 31.82 to σOLSSES2 = 31.57), adjusting for country, community, and sampling year fixed effects. The country-specific variances range from as low as 25.10 units in Egypt to as high as 74.46 units in Sao Tome and Principe. With the same set of SES measures, the best performing learner, a Bayesian neural net, produces a predictive variance of σBnnSES2 = 31.52. This is a negligible improvement in variance explained by 0.3% (σBnnSES2-σOLSSES2). Given our selection of algorithms, our findings indicate no relevant non-linear relationships between SES and women's height, and also the predictive limits of SES. We recommend that scholars report both the average effect of SES on health outcomes as well as its contribution to the variance explained. This will improve our understanding of how key social and economic factors affect health, deepening our understanding of the social determinants of health.

Different languages, similar encoding efficiency: Comparable information rates across the human communicative niche

Language is universal, but it has few indisputably universal characteristics, with cross-linguistic variation being the norm. For example, languages differ greatly in the number of syllables they allow, resulting in large variation in the Shannon information per syllable. Nevertheless, all natural languages allow their speakers to efficiently encode and transmit information. We show here, using quantitative methods on a large cross-linguistic corpus of 17 languages, that the coupling between language-level (information per syllable) and speaker-level (speech rate) properties results in languages encoding similar information rates (~39 bits/s) despite wide differences in each property individually: Languages are more similar in information rates than in Shannon information or speech rate. These findings highlight the intimate feedback loops between languages' structural properties and their speakers' neurocognition and biology under communicative pressures. Thus, language is the product of a multiscale communicative niche construction process at the intersection of biology, environment, and culture.

Longitudinal associations between body composition and regional fat distribution and later attained height at school entry among preschool children predisposed to overweight

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

To investigate the associations between indicators of obesity and fat distribution, such as body mass index (BMI), fat mass, and skinfold measures during preschool age, and attained height at school entry.

SUBJECTS/METHODS

The Healthy Start primary intervention study comprised 1100 obesity-prone preschool children from the greater Copenhagen area, with a mean [standard deviation (SD)] age of 4.0 (1.1) years at baseline. Anthropometry was measured by trained health professionals at baseline (preschool age) and follow-up height at school entry was gathered by school nurses. Prospective associations between body fat measures and later attained height were examined using generalized linear models with adjustments for potential confounders.

RESULTS

Greater adiposity at preschool age was directly associated with a higher attained height at follow-up at school-age, when adjusting for confounders. A baseline difference of one BMI unit was associated with a greater attained height of 0.8 cm [(95% confidence interval (CI) 0.5; 1.2]. Furthermore, a difference of 1 mm in the sum of four skinfolds measured at baseline was associated with a greater attained height of 0.1 cm (95% CI 0.03; 0.2) at follow-up. Children with overweight or obesity at baseline attained a significantly higher height of 2.9 (95% CI 1.6; 4.1) cm at follow-up after full adjustment than normal weight children.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results supports that greater adiposity at preschool age is associated with greater tallness. Although a greater height is assumed to be desirable, accelerated growth in childhood may in itself be a risk factor for obesity later in life.

Assessing the Intergenerational Linkage between Short Maternal Stature and Under-Five Stunting and Wasting in Bangladesh

Short maternal stature is identified as a strong predictor of offspring undernutrition in low and middle-income countries. However, there is limited information to confirm an intergenerational link between maternal and under-five undernutrition in Bangladesh. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the association between short maternal stature and offspring stunting and wasting in Bangladesh. For analysis, this study pooled the data from four rounds of Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys (BDHS) 2004, 2007, 2011, and 2014 that included about 28,123 singleton children aged 0–59 months born to mothers aged 15–49 years. Data on sociodemographic factors, birth history, and anthropometry were analyzed using STATA 14.2 to perform a multivariable model using ‘Modified Poisson Regression’ with step-wise backward elimination procedures. In an adjusted model, every 1 cm increase in maternal height significantly reduced the risk of stunting (relative risks (RR) = 0.960; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.957, 0.962) and wasting (RR = 0.986; 95% CI: 0.980, 0.992). The children of the short statured mothers (<145 cm) had about two times greater risk of stunting and three times the risk of severe stunting, 1.28 times the risk of wasting, and 1.43 times the risk of severe wasting (RR = 1.43; 95% CI: 1.11, 1.83) than the tall mothers (≥155 cm). These findings confirmed a robust intergenerational linkage between short maternal stature and offspring stunting and wasting in Bangladesh.

Investigating the association between body fat and depression via Mendelian randomization

Obesity and depression are major public health concerns that are both associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. There is a considerable body of literature linking obesity to the development of depression. Recent studies using Mendelian randomization indicate that this relationship is causal. Most studies of the obesity-depression association have used body mass index as a measure of obesity. Body mass index is defined as weight (measured in kilograms) divided by the square of height (meters) and therefore does not distinguish between the contributions of fat and nonfat to body weight. To better understand the obesity-depression association, we conduct a Mendelian randomization study of the relationship between fat mass, nonfat mass, height, and depression, using genome-wide association study results from the UK Biobank (n = 332,000) and the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (n = 480,000). Our findings suggest that both fat mass and height (short stature) are causal risk factors for depression, while nonfat mass is not. These results represent important new knowledge on the role of anthropometric measures in the etiology of depression. They also suggest that reducing fat mass will decrease the risk of depression, which lends further support to public health measures aimed at reducing the obesity epidemic.

Improved prediction equations for estimating height in adults from ethnically diverse backgrounds

BACKGROUND & AIMS

When body height cannot be measured, it can be predicted from ulna length (UL). However, commonly used published prediction equations may not provide useful estimates in adults from all ethnicities. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between UL and height in adults from diverse ethnic groups and to consider whether this can be used to provide useful prediction equations for height in practice.

METHODS

Standing height and UL were measured in 542 adults at seven UK locations. Ethnicity was self-defined using UK Census 2011 categories. Data were modelled to give two groups of height prediction equations based on UL, sex and ethnicity and these were tested against an independent dataset (n = 180).

RESULTS

UL and height were significantly associated overall and in all groups except one with few participants (P = 0.059). The new equations yielded predicted height (H_p) that was closer to measured height in the Asian and Black subgroups of the independent population than the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) equations. For Asian men, (H_p (cm) = 3.26 UL (cm) + 83.58), mean difference from measured (95% confidence intervals) was -0.6 (-2.4, +1.2); Asian women, (H_p = 3.26 UL + 77.62), mean difference +0.5 (-1.4, 2.4) cm. For Black men, H_p = 3.14 UL + 85.80, -0.4 (-2.4, 1.7); Black women, H_p = 3.14 UL + 79.55, -0.8 (-2.8, 1.2). These differences were not statistically significant while predictions from MUST equations were significantly different from measured height.

CONCLUSIONS

The new prediction equations provide an alternative for estimating height in adults from Asian and Black groups and give mean predicted values that are closer to measured height than MUST equations.

Stature and education among Roma women: taller stature is associated with better educational and economic outcomes

The association between body height and educational outcome, as measured by years of completed schooling, was investigated among Roma women in Serbia in 2014-2018. Height, demographic data, level of schooling and reproductive histories were collected from 691 Roma women aged between 16 and 80 years living in rural settlements in central and western Serbia. Multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that short stature was associated with an increased risk of low education, possibly as a result of poor growth and developmental disadvantage in early life. Roma cultural practices were also shown to influence the school achievement of these Roma girls: in addition to height, education was positively associated with a higher bride price and better socioeconomic status, as acquired through marriage. For Roma women, height might influence not only their level of education but also their lifetime prospects.

Assessing associational strength of 23 correlates of child anthropometric failure: An econometric analysis of the 2015-2016 National Family Health Survey, India

Despite the broad consensus that investments in nutrition-sensitive programmes are required to reduce child undernutrition, in practice empirical studies and interventions tend to focus on few nutrition-specific risk factors in isolation. The 2015-16 National Family Health Survey provides the first opportunity in more than a decade to conduct an up-to-date comprehensive evaluation of the relative importance of various maternal and child health and nutrition (MCHN) factors in respect to child anthropometric failures in India. The primary analysis included 140,444 children aged 6-59 months with complete data on 20 MCHN factors, and the secondary analysis included a subset of 25,603 children with additional paternal data. Outcome variables were stunting, underweight and wasting. We conducted logistic regression models to first evaluate each correlate separately in age- and sex-adjusted models, and then jointly in a mutually adjusted model. For all anthropometric failures, indicators of past and present socioeconomic conditions showed the most robust associations. The strongest correlates for stunting were short maternal stature (OR: 4.39; 95%CI: 4.00, 4.81), lack of maternal education (OR: 1.74; 95%CI: 1.60, 1.89), low maternal BMI (OR: 1.64; 95%CI: 1.54, 1.75), poor household wealth (OR: 1.25; 95%CI: 1.15, 1.35) and poor household air quality (OR: 1.22; 95%CI: 1.16, 1.29). Weaker associations were found for other correlates, including dietary diversity, vitamin A supplementation and breastfeeding initiation. Paternal factors were also important predictors of anthropometric failures, but to a lesser degree than maternal factors. The results remained consistent when stratified by children's age (6-23 vs 24-59 months) and sex (girls vs boys), and when low birth weight was additionally considered. Our findings indicate the limitation of nutrition-specific interventions. Breaking multi-generational poverty and improving environmental factors are promising investments to prevent anthropometric failures in early childhood.

Social mobility of the father influences child growth: A three-generation study

OBJECTIVES

The association between body height and social status is known. We were interested in the effect of intergeneration changes in social status on height.

METHODS

Body height was measured in 2008 paternal grandfather-father-son and 1803 paternal grandfather-father-daughter triplets. The sample consisted of four child cohorts born in 1988, 1985, 1983, and 1980, and was measured annually from 6 to 11, 9 to 14, 11 to 16, and 14 to 18 years of age. Triplets were dichotomized according to grandfathers' occupation, into one "lower" and one "upper" grandparental class; and according to paternal education, into one "lower" and "upper" paternal class, resulting in four "family histories": two nonmobile (grandfathers and fathers stayed in the same social class), and two mobile histories (social class of fathers and grandfathers differed).

RESULTS

"Upper" class fathers are taller than "lower" class fathers. This class effect on height persists into the third generation. Upward social mobility ("lower" class fathers receive secondary or university education) results in taller stature both in the fathers and in the children. The opposite applies for downward social mobility. "Upper" class fathers with only basic or vocational education lose the social advantage and remain shorter. So do their children.

CONCLUSIONS

The class effect on height tends to persist into the next generation, but depends on education. Upward social mobility measured as a "better" education, results in taller stature, up to the third generation. The study highlights the importance of education as a major regulator of body height.

Association of taller stature with lower cardiovascular disease mortality in Asian people: a systematic review

Background

Adult height can serve as a disease marker. While taller stature has been reported to be linked to a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), an influence of the height on CVD is not fully understood in specific populations of Asia, which has a lower incidence of CVD and lower stature than Western populations.

Methods

We conducted a systematic review using original articles of prospective cohort studies published in English, via the PubMed database, on the relationship between the height and mortality of CVD, including cerebrovascular disease, in Asian people.

Results

We selected four studies on heart/coronary disease and five studies on cerebrovascular disease. Regarding heart/coronary disease, two studies showed that taller stature was associated with a decreased mortality of heart disease in men or cardiovascular disease in women. The hazard ratios of other studies had not shown a clear significance but a decreased direction of taller stature to the mortality. Regarding cerebrovascular disease, most studies showed that taller stature was associated with a decreased mortality of total cerebrovascular diseases or stroke. In two studies, taller stature showed a decreased mortality of ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke.

Conclusions

Overall, adult height may be inversely predictive to the mortality of CVD, in particular cerebrovascular disease, in Asian people. While this seems to be a similar trend to that of Westerns, further studies are warranted.

Inverse Association Between Height-Increasing Alleles and Extreme Longevity in Japanese Women

Growth hormone (GH)/insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1)/insulin signaling is one of the most plausible biological pathways regulating aging and longevity. Previous studies have demonstrated that several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the GH/IGF-1/insulin signaling-associated genes influence both longevity and adult height, suggesting the possibility of a shared genetic architecture between longevity and height. We therefore examined the relationship between 30 height-associated SNPs and extreme longevity in a Japanese population consisting of 428 centenarians and 4,026 younger controls. We confirmed that height-increasing genetic scores (HGSs) constructed based on 30 SNPs were significantly associated with height in the controls (p = 6.95 × 10-23). HGS was significantly and inversely associated with extreme longevity in women (p = .011), but not in men, although no SNPs were significantly associated with extreme longevity after Bonferroni correction. The odds ratio for extreme longevity in the lowest HGS group (≤27) and the second lowest HGS group (28-30) relative to the highest HGS group (≥37) was 1.71 (p = .056) and 1.69 (p = .034), respectively, for women. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated an inverse association between height-increasing alleles with extreme longevity in Japanese women, providing novel insight into the genetic architecture of longevity and aging.

Early life environment and adult height: The case of Chile

In this paper, we analyze the relationship between adult height and early-life disease environment, proxied by the infant mortality rate (IMR) in the first year of life, using cohort-region level data for Chile for 1960-1989. IMRs show a remarkable reduction of 100 points per thousand over this thirty-year period, declining from 119.4 to 21.0 per thousand. We also document a 0.96 cm increase in height per decade.We find that the drop in IMRs observed among our cohorts explains almost all of the long-term trend in rising adult heights, and that per capita GDP does not appear to have any predictive power in this context. Results are robust in a variety of specifications, which include area and cohort dummies, an adjustment for internal migration, and urbanization rates. Our results point to the long-term effect of a public health policy.

Have Swiss adult males and females stopped growing taller? Evidence from the population-based nutrition survey menuCH, 2014/2015

Data from the National Nutrition Survey for adults (menuCH) allow for the assessment of recent trends in measured height by year of birth for adult men and women from a population-based sample. The aim of the present study was to test if - similarly to conscripts and schoolchildren - the Swiss adult population stopped growing taller in recent birth cohorts, and if so, when the change occurred. We found that - when self-reported - height was overestimated on average by about 1 cm in both men and women, with an increasing tendency with older age and with shorter height. Average measured height increased by 4.5-5.0 cm for adult men and women between the birth years 1937-1949 and 1990-1995. However, this increase was not linear, and starting with the 1970s birth years, average height plateaued on a level of about 178 cm for men and 166 cm for women. Being born outside of Switzerland or adjustment for potential shrinkage with increasing age did not change this temporal pattern. We also found shorter average height among participants from the Italian part of Switzerland and those with lower educational level. It remains unclear if the phenomenon of stabilisation affects all subgroups of the Swiss population. Future studies should combine a larger number of population-based surveys to enhance the sample size, for example, for people with a migration background or with different educational levels. Continuing growth monitoring needs to be performed to assess if environmental and demographic changes with an impact on body growth (adverse trends in nutrition, increasing social inequality in health, ethnic composition of the population) positively or negatively influence future trends in average height.

The association between obesity and secular trend of stature: a nationwide study of 2.8 million adolescents over five decades

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

It is unclear whether adolescent obesity is associated with limited linear growth. We assessed this association in a nationwide sample of adolescents.

METHODS

We conducted a population-based, study of 2,785,227 Israeli adolescents (60% males) who were examined before military service since 1967 through 2015. Height and weight were measured along with assessment of medical status at age 17.4 ± 0.4 years. The secular trend of height was plotted using United States Center for Disease Control (US CDC) age- and sex-adjusted BMI percentile groups. We accounted for health status at enrollment and computed the expected height based on parental data that was available for 512,978 examinees.

RESULTS

Over five decades, the mean height increased by 3.1 cm among males, but remained unchanged among females. Among males, gain in height was attained predominantly during the first 25 years and has stabilized since. Males with obesity were taller than their normal-weight and underweight counterparts. Underweight girls had a prominent increase in mean height during the first two decades, exceeding the mean height of their counterparts with obesity by over 2 cm. There was a gradual decrease in the difference between measured and expected height in males and females regardless of BMI status, with the exception of the underweight females who achieved consistently higher stature than expected (≥3 cm).

CONCLUSIONS

During five decades, excessive BMI was not a limiting factor in growth potential compared with normal BMI in both sexes. The only group that exceeded its growth potential, when accounting for expected mid-parental height, were underweight females with unimpaired health.

Using tibial fragments to reconstruct the total skeletal height of black South Africans

Stature is an important component of the biological profile of unknown skeletal remains and regression equations for estimating stature have been derived for a number of bones. However, bones are rarely recovered intact in both forensic and archaeological cases, and regression formulae for fragmentary remains have therefore been developed. These equations are, however, both sex- and population-specific, and while formulae exist for many populations, those using fragmentary tibiae do not exist for black South Africans. The aim of this study was therefore to establish regression equations for estimating total skeletal height (TSH), and thereby stature, from tibial fragments in a black South African population. A sample of 99 male and 99 female black South African skeletons were obtained from the Raymond A. Dart Collection of Human Skeletons and the TSH of each skeleton was calculated using the anatomical method. Eleven additional measurements representing tibial fragments were taken on each tibia, and both uni- and multivariate equations were established for estimating TSH from these fragments. All tibial variables were significantly, positively correlated with TSH, and equation correlations ranged between 0.41 and 0.91. The range of standard errors of estimate for the derived sex-specific (3.43-5.06 cm) and sex-pooled (3.44-5.94 cm) multivariate equations were slightly larger than those reported for intact tibiae in black (2.78-3.06 cm) and white (2.59-3.16 cm) South Africans. All uni- and multivariate-equations estimated TSH with moderate to high accuracy, which indicates that in the absence of intact tibiae, the equations presented in this study can be used to give accurate estimates of TSH, and thereby stature, for black South Africans.

Puberty and the Evolution of Developmental Science

In recent decades, theoretical and methodological advances have operated synergistically to advance understanding of puberty and prompt increasingly comprehensive models that engage with the temporal, psychosocial, and biological dimensions of this maturational milepost. This integrative overview discusses these theoretical and methodological advances and their implications for research and intervention to promote human development in the context of changing maturational schedules and massive ongoing social transformations.

Shorter Height is Associated with Diabetes in Women but not in Men: Nationally Representative Evidence from Namibia

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to test the hypothesis that attained adult height, as an indicator of childhood nutrition, is associated with diabetes in adulthood in Namibia, a country where stunting is highly prevalent.

METHODS

Data from 1,898 women and 1,343 men aged 35 to 64 years included in the Namibia Demographic and Health Survey in 2013 were analyzed. Multiple logistic regression models were used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs of having diabetes in relation to height. The following three models were considered: Model 1 included only height, Model 2 included height as well as demographic and socioeconomic variables, and Model 3 included body mass index in addition to the covariates from Model 2.

RESULTS

Overall crude diabetes prevalence was 6.1% (95% CI: 5.0-7.2). Being taller was inversely related with diabetes in women but not in men. In Model 3, a 1-cm increase in women's height was associated with 4% lower odds of having diabetes (OR, 0.96; 95% CI: 0.94-0.99; P = 0.023).

CONCLUSIONS

Height is associated with a large reduction in diabetes in women but not in men in Namibia. Interventions that allow women to reach their full growth potential may help prevent the growing diabetes burden in the region.

Impact of Vertebral Fractures and Glucocorticoid Exposure on Height Deficits in Children During Treatment of Leukemia

OBJECTIVE

To assess the effect of vertebral fractures (VF) and glucocorticoid (GC) exposure on height deficits in children during treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

METHODS

Children with ALL treated without cranial radiation therapy (n = 160; median age, 5.1 years; 58.1% male) were followed prospectively for 6 years. Spinal deformity index (SDI) was used to quantify VF status.

RESULTS

Baseline height z score ± SD was 0.3 ± 1.2. It fell by 0.5 ± 0.4 in the first 6 months for boys and by 0.4 ± 0.4 in the first 12 months for girls (P < 0.01 for both) and then subsequently recovered. The prevalence of VF peaked at 1 year (17.6%). Among those with VF, median SDI rose from 2 [interquartile range (IQR): 1, 7] at baseline to 8 (IQR: 1, 8) at 1 year. A mixed model for repeated measures showed that height z score declined by 0.13 (95% CI: 0.02 to 0.24; P = 0.02) for each 5-unit increase in SDI during the previous 12 months. Every 10 mg/m2 increase in average daily GC dose (prednisone equivalent) in the previous 12 months was associated with a height z score decrement of 0.26 (95% CI: 0.20 to 0.32; P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

GC likely plays a major role in the observed height decline during therapy for ALL. Because only a minority of children had VF, fractures could not have contributed significantly to the height deficit in the entire cohort but may have been important among the subset with VF.

Life Course Socioeconomic Position, Allostatic Load, and Incidence of Type 2 Diabetes among African American Adults: The Jackson Heart Study, 2000-04 to 2012

Objective

We examined whether life course socioeconomic position (SEP) was associated with incidence of type 2 diabetes (t2DM) among African Americans.

Design

Secondary analysis of data from the Jackson Heart Study, 2000-04 to 2012, using Cox proportional hazard regression to estimate hazard ratios (HR) with 95% CI for t2DM incidence by measures of life course SEP.

Participants

Sample of 4,012 nondiabetic adults aged 25-84 years at baseline.

Outcome Measure

Incident t2DM identified by self-report, hemoglobin A1c ≥6.5%, fasting plasma glucose ≥126 mg/dL, or use of diabetes medication.

Results

During 7.9 years of follow-up, 486 participants developed t2DM (incidence rate 15.2/1000 person-years, 95% CI: 13.9-16.6). Among women, but not men, childhood SEP was inversely associated with t2DM incidence (HR=.97, 95% CI: .94-.99) but was no longer associated with adjustment for adult SEP or t2DM risk factors. Upward SEP mobility increased the hazard for t2DM incidence (adjusted HR=1.52, 95% CI: 1.05-2.21) among women only. Life course allostatic load (AL) did not explain the SEP-t2DM association in either sex.

Conclusions

Childhood SEP and upward social mobility may influence t2DM incidence in African American women but not in men.

Facial masculinity does not appear to be a condition-dependent male ornament and does not reflect MHC heterozygosity in humans

Recent studies have called into question the idea that facial masculinity is a condition-dependent male ornament that indicates immunocompetence in humans. We add to this growing body of research by calculating an objective measure of facial masculinity/femininity using 3D images in a large sample (n = 1,233) of people of European ancestry. We show that facial masculinity is positively correlated with adult height in both males and females. However, facial masculinity scales with growth similarly in males and females, suggesting that facial masculinity is not exclusively a male ornament, as male ornaments are typically more sensitive to growth in males compared with females. Additionally, we measured immunocompetence via heterozygosity at the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), a widely-used genetic marker of immunity. We show that, while height is positively correlated with MHC heterozygosity, facial masculinity is not. Thus, facial masculinity does not reflect immunocompetence measured by MHC heterozygosity in humans. Overall, we find no support for the idea that facial masculinity is a condition-dependent male ornament that has evolved to indicate immunocompetence.

Did family size affect differences in body height in non-urbanized societies? Evidence from the Lemko community in Poland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of economic changes in the Polish territories under Austrian partition at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries on the trend in adult body height, and to examine the effect of number of children in a family, as a socioeconomic factor, on the differences in heights of males and females. Data collected in a 1939 survey for a group of 350 Lemkos living in Polish lands under the Austrian partition were obtained from archive material. Individual data were obtained for body height and number of siblings, to calculate family size. Linear regression analysis confirmed an increase in body height in males by about 1.2 cm per decade over the period 1860 to 1922. The number of children in a family did not appear to influence the mean body height of men and women. The observed positive mean body height trend probably resulted from the improvement in the economic conditions in the Austrian sector over the survey period.

Influence of maternal height on children's health status and mortality: A cross-sectional study in poor Roma communities in rural Serbia

To determine possible variations in children's health status and mortality associated with variations in maternal stature, an anthropometric and demographic study was conducted in a Roma population of poor socio-economic status in rural Serbia. Data were collected during several years of anthropological fieldwork. The sample consisted of 691 women, ranging from 16 to 80 years of age. In addition to stature, Roma women's demographics, reproductive history, reproductive outcomes and health status of their children were collected. The results provide evidence of a significant association between mother's stature and their children's health and mortality, with a shorter mother's stature predisposing children to poor health and survival outcomes. The findings could prompt development of a definition of short stature among Roma women to evaluate the risk based on height distribution among the general Roma population.

Exploring the intergenerational effects of undernutrition: association of maternal height with neonatal, infant and under-five mortality in Bangladesh

Background

Global or regional evidence showed maternal height as a strong predictor of child survival. However, there is limited information that confirms the intergenerational effect of short maternal height on the risk of offspring mortality in Bangladesh. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the association of maternal height with neonatal, infant and under-five mortality in Bangladesh.

Methods

It was a pooled analysis of data from four rounds of Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys 2004, 2007, 2011 and 2014. We included singleton children aged 0-59 months born to mothers aged 15-49 years (n = 29 698). Mothers were interviewed to collect data on maternal and child characteristics, and socio-demographic information. Maternal height was measured using an adjustable measuring board calibrated in millimetres. We used STATA V.14.2 and adjusted for the cluster sampling design. Multivariate 'Modified Poisson Regression' was performed using stepwise backward elimination procedures to examine the association between maternal height and child death.

Results

In the adjusted model, every 1 cm increase maternal height was associated with a reduced risk of neonatal mortality (relative risk (RR) = 0.973, 95% CI 0.960 to 0.986), infant mortality (RR = 0.980, 95% CI 0.969 to 0.991) and under-five mortality (RR = 0.982, 95% CI 0.972 to 0.992). Children of the shortest mothers (height<145 cm) had 1.73 times greater risk of neonatal mortality, about 1.60 times greater risk of infant mortality and 1.48 times greater risk of under-five mortality compared with those of tall mothers (height≥155 cm). Among the children of the shortest mothers (height<145 cm), the absolute probabilities for neonatal, infant and under-five mortality were 4.4%, 6.0% and 6.5%, respectively, while for the children of the tall mothers (height≥ 155 cm), the absolute probabilities for neonatal, infant and under-five mortality were 2.6%, 3.7 %, and 4.4%, respectively.

Conclusion

These findings suggest a robust intergenerational linkage between short maternal height and the risk of neonatal, infant and under-five mortally in Bangladesh.

Associations between socioeconomic status, atrial fibrillation, and outcomes: a systematic review

BACKGROUND

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a growing epidemic and evidence of a relationship to socioeconomic status (SES) is inconsistent. We aimed to summarize the literature about SES and AF and defined two objectives: (1) To examine the association between SES and the risk of AF; (2) To examine the association between SES and AF-related outcomes in an AF-population.

METHODS

We performed a separate search for each objective in Ovid-MEDLINE and Ovid-Embase. For objective 1, the population included was healthy participants and outcome of interest was AF. For objective 2, the population included were patients with AF and outcome of interest was mortality, treatment, ablation for AF, knowledge about AF, and morbidity.

RESULTS

For objective 1, 12 studies were included. No consistent pattern for an association between SES and the risk of AF was discovered. For objective 2, 39 studies comprising 42 outcomes were included. The majority of studies showed an association between low SES and increased mortality and morbidity.

CONCLUSION

Low SES was associated with poorer outcomes when AF was present. These findings may imply that health-care professionals and policy interventions should focus on the promotion of AF-education and management among patients with AF and low SES.

Education modifies the relationship between height and cognitive function in a cross-sectional population-based study of older adults in Rural South Africa

We aimed to estimate the relationship between height (a measure of early-life cumulative net nutrition) and later-life cognitive function among older rural South African adults, and whether education modified this relationship. Data were from baseline in-person interviews with 5059 adults ≥ 40 years in the population-based "Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa" (HAALSI) study in Agincourt sub-district, South Africa, in 2015. Linear regression was used to estimate the relationship between height quintile and latent cognitive function z-score (representing episodic memory, time orientation, and numeracy), with adjustment for life course covariates and a height-by-education interaction. Mean (SD) height was 162.7 (8.9) cm. Nearly half the sample had no formal education (46%; 2307/5059). Mean age- and sex-adjusted cognitive z-scores increased from - 0.68 (95% CI: - 0.76 to - 0.61) in those with no education in the shortest height quintile to 0.62 (95% CI: 0.52-0.71) in those with at least 8 years of education in the tallest height quintile. There was a linear height disparity in cognitive z-scores for those with no formal education (adjusted β = 0.10; 95% CI: 0.08-0.13 per height quintile), but no height disparity in cognitive z-scores in those with any level of education. Short stature is associated with poor cognitive function and may be a risk factor for cognitive impairment among older adults living in rural South Africa. The height disparity in cognitive function was negated for older adults who had any level of education.

Fetal sex modifies the effect of maternal macronutrient intake on the incidence of small-for-gestational-age births: a prospective observational cohort study

Background

Maternal macronutrient intake is likely to play a pivotal role in fetoplacental growth. Male fetuses grow faster and their growth is more responsive to maternal size.

Objective

We assessed the role of fetal sex in modifying the effect of maternal macronutrient intake on the risk of small-for-gestational-age (SGA) birth.

Design

This was a prospective, observational cohort study of 2035 births from an urban South Asian Indian population. Maternal intakes of total energy and macronutrients were recorded by validated food-frequency questionnaires. The interaction of trimester 1 macronutrient intake with fetal sex was tested on the outcome of SGA births.

Results

The prevalence of SGA was 28%. Trimester 1 macronutrient composition was high in carbohydrate and low in fat (means ± SDs-carbohydrate: 64.6% ± 5.1%; protein: 11.5% ± 1.1%; and fat: 23.9% ± 4.4% of energy). Higher carbohydrate and lower fat consumption were each associated with an increased risk of SGA [adjusted OR (AOR) per 5% of energy (95% CI): carbohydrate: 1.15 (1.01, 1.32); fat: 0.83 (0.71, 0.97)] specifically among male births (males: n = 1047; females: n = 988). Dietary intake of >70% of energy from carbohydrate was also associated with increased risk (AOR: 1.67; 95% CI: 1.00, 2.78), whereas >25% of energy from fat intake was associated with decreased risk (AOR: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.41, 0.90) of SGA in male births.

Conclusions

Higher carbohydrate and lower fat intakes early in pregnancy were associated with increased risk of male SGA births. Therefore, we speculate that fetal sex acts as a modifier of the role of maternal periconceptional nutrition in optimal fetoplacental growth.

Levels and correlates of nutritional status of women of childbearing age in rural Bangladesh

OBJECTIVE

The present study examined the prevalence of and risk factors for malnutrition in a population-based cohort of women of childbearing age in rural Bangladesh.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study that collected pre-pregnancy weight, height, and data on selected risk factors for nutritional status of women.

SETTING

The study was conducted in Sylhet District of Bangladesh.

SUBJECTS

Study subjects included 13 230 non-pregnant women of childbearing age. Women were classified into underweight (<18·5 kg/m2), normal (18·5-24·9 kg/m2) and overweight/obese (≥25·0 kg/m2) using BMI; and into moderate to severe stunting (<150 cm), mild stunting (150-<155 cm) and normal (≥155 cm) using height. Two multinomial logistic regression models were fitted for BMI: model 1 examined individual and household factors associated with BMI, and model 2 additionally examined the association of community variables. The same analysis was conducted for height.

RESULTS

Prevalence of underweight, overweight/obesity and moderate to severe stunting was 37·0, 7·2 and 48·6 %, respectively. Women's education and household wealth were inversely related to both underweight status and stunting. Underweight rate was significantly lower in the post-harvest season. Women with any education and who belonged to households with higher wealth were more likely to be overweight/obese.

CONCLUSIONS

The study documented high underweight and stunting, and moderate overweight/obesity rates among rural Bangladeshi women; and recommends design and implementation of a multidimensional intervention programme based on individual-, household- and community-level risk factors that can address underweight, stunting and overweight/obesity to improve the nutritional status of women of childbearing age in Bangladesh.

Height and body fatness and colorectal cancer risk: an update of the WCRF-AICR systematic review of published prospective studies

PURPOSE

There is no published dose-response meta-analysis on the association between height and colorectal cancer risk (CRC) by sex and anatomical sub-site. We conducted a meta-analysis of prospective studies on the association between height and CRC risk with subgroup analysis and updated evidence on the association between body fatness and CRC risk.

METHODS

PubMed and several other databases were searched up to November 2016. A random effects model was used to calculate dose-response summary relative risks (RR's).

RESULTS

47 studies were included in the meta-analyses including 50,936 cases among 7,393,510 participants. The findings support the existing evidence regarding a positive association of height, general and abdominal body fatness and CRC risk. The summary RR were 1.04 [95% (CI)1.02-1.05, I² = 91%] per 5 cm increase in height, 1.02 [95% (CI)1.01-1.02, I² = 0%] per 5 kg increase in weight, 1.06 [95% (CI)1.04-1.07, I² = 83%] per 5 kg/m2 increase in BMI, 1.02 [95% (CI)1.02-1.03, I² = 4%] per 10 cm increase in waist circumference, 1.03 [95% (CI)1.01-1.05, I² = 16%] per 0.1 unit increase in waist to hip ratio. The significant association for height and CRC risk was similar in men and women. The significant association for BMI and CRC risk was stronger in men than in women.

CONCLUSION

The positive association between height and risk of CRC suggests that life factors during childhood and early adulthood might play a role in CRC aetiology. Higher general and abdominal body fatness during adulthood are risk factors of CRC and these associations are stronger in men than in women.

Dynamics of body time, social time and life history at adolescence

Recent opposing trends towards earlier physical maturation and later social maturation present a conundrum of apparent biological-social mismatch. Here we use life history analysis from evolutionary ecology to identify forces that drive these shifts. Together with findings in developmental science, our life history analysis indicates that adolescence is a distinctive period for biological embedding of culture. Ethnographic evidence shows that mass education is a novel feature of the globalizing cultural configurations of adolescence, which are driven by transformations in labour, livelihood and lifestyle. Evaluation of the life history trade-offs and sociocultural ecologies that are experienced by adolescents may offer a practical basis for enhancing their development.