100 Years of Heights and Weights

Abstract

SUMMARY Height and weight data for Great Britain exist back to 1883 (Report of the Anthropometric Committee of the British Association) and even before. These have been reviewed up to the present date: in particular, a long series for army recruits has been analysed, helping considerably in establishing a trend, and recent surveys have established a secure base for future comparisons at national level. But many other sets of data fit the general pattern of increasing heights and weights over the past century at all ages. Quetelet's index w/h2 is recommended as a good indicator of ‘weight for height’ in adult populations; for children it is still at the descriptive stage. A method is suggested for calculating the index and its limits when the complete distribution of heights and weights is unknown, as in many historical series. Finally, class differences are investigated and appear to have narrowed over a century.

Fertility decline and the heights of children in Britain, 1886–1938

“…Taken together, these trends suggest that unless we 24 recognise the effect of falling family size it is difficult to fully account for the sharp improvements in child health in the half century before the advent of the National Health Service. Rosenbaum (1988), Table 8 p. 288. Heights of school children in British Towns calculated from data collected by Bernard Harris and supplied by the AHDS at the University of Essex.…”

Long run trends in the heights of European men, 19th–20th centuries

“…1956-60 to 1976-80: Height-by-age measured in 2000 from Health Survey for England (kindly supplied by Climent Quintana-Domeque); 1931-35 to 1956-60: Height-by age measured in 1980 from Rosenbaum et al (1985), p. 117 (this is taken as the base for the series); 1906-10 to 1931-35: Height-by-age self-reported in 1946 and 1958 from Kuh et al (1991Kuh et al ( ), p. 10031886-1890to 1906-1910: Height-by-age measured in 1943 from Kemsley (1950) p. 163; 1861-5 to 1886-90: Heights of army recruits age 20 (adjusted for truncation) from Rosenbaum (1988), p. 282.…”

The impact of childhood body mass index on timing of puberty, adult stature and obesity: a follow-up study based on adolescent anthropometry recorded at Christ's Hospital (1936–1964)

“…He is credited with implementing a regime of regular growth monitoring that was maintained within the school for decades. 42,43 The regime of twice-a-term height measurements and thrice-a-term weight measurements implemented since 1918 is considered remarkably good data for the period. 42 Growth record cards with height and weight measures were found for all the above students and formed the basis of defining this all-male cohort.…”

“…42,43 The regime of twice-a-term height measurements and thrice-a-term weight measurements implemented since 1918 is considered remarkably good data for the period. 42 Growth record cards with height and weight measures were found for all the above students and formed the basis of defining this all-male cohort. The cohort at the time of initiating follow-up was aged between 45 and 74 years.…”