Distributional change of women's adult height in low- and middle-income countries over the past half century: An observational study using cross-sectional survey data

PLoS Medicine
Jewel GausmanFahad Razak

Abstract

Adult height reflects childhood circumstances and is associated with health, longevity, and maternal-fetal outcomes. Mean height is an important population metric, and declines in height have occurred in several low- and middle-income countries, especially in Africa, over the last several decades. This study examines changes at the population level in the distribution of height over time across a broad range of low- and middle-income countries during the past half century. The study population comprised 1,122,845 women aged 25-49 years from 59 countries with women's height measures available from four 10-year birth cohorts from 1950 to 1989 using data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) collected between 1993 and 2013. Multilevel regression models were used to examine the association between (1) mean height and standard deviation (SD) of height (a population-level measure of inequality) and (2) median height and the 5th and 95th percentiles of height. Mean-difference plots were used to conduct a graphical analysis of shifts in the distribution within countries over time. Overall, 26 countries experienced a significant increase, 26 experienced no significant change, and 7 experienced a significant decline in mean heigh...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jul 17, 2020·The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition·Jannah M WigleZulfiqar A Bhutta
Oct 19, 2019·European Journal of Clinical Nutrition·Rockli KimS V Subramanian

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