Body height in adult women and men in a cross-sectional population-based survey in Geneva: temporal trends, association with general health status and height loss after age 50

Abstract

ObjectiveOn the one hand, trends in average height in adulthood mirror changes in living standard and health status of a population and its subgroups; on the other hand, height in general, as well as the loss of height in older age in particular, are associated in different ways with outcomes for health. For these aspects, there is hardly any information for Switzerland based on representative and measured body height data.DesignRepeated cross-sectional survey study.SettingFully anonymised data from the representative population-based Geneva Bus Santé Study between 2005 and 2017 were analysed.MethodsData from N=8686 study participants were used in the trend analysis. Height was measured and sociodemographic information and self-rated health was collected via questionnaires. Follow-up (mean: 7.1 years) measurements from N=2112 participants were available to assess height loss after age 50.ResultsWomen were, on average, 166.2 cm (SD 6.5) tall and men 179.2 cm (SD 6.5). Among men and women, higher socioeconomic status was associated with taller average height. The flattening of the increase in height from the 1970s birth years appears to begin earlier in the subgroup with the highest education level. The tallest average height was measured for men and women from Central and Northern Europe, the shortest for South America and Asia. The likelihood that participants rated their health as ‘very good’ increased with greater body height. The follow-up data show that men lost −0.11 cm per follow-up year (95% CI −0.12 to −0.10), women −0.17 cm (95% CI −0.18 to 0.15).ConclusionsThe association of height and health status is currently understudied. Monitoring changes in average body height may indicate disparities in different subgroups of populations. Based on our study and a growing literature, we think that the multifaceted role of body height should be better considered in clinical practice.

Associations between Ocular Biometry, Refractive Error, and Body Characteristics

“…Finally, in comparisons based on sex, a greater magnitude of body height, AL, and SE was found in the boys. The findings are in line with previous research [14,15,[42][43][44]51]. However, there are also reports of the opposite effect, stating that girls were more likely to develop high myopia [14,52] or that their prevalence of myopia was higher than that of boys [15].…”

The Role of Age and Sex in Non-linear Dilution Adjustment of Spot Urine Arsenic

“…Alternatively, arsenic exposure and daily weight-adjusted net excretion through urine might be less gender-dissimilar or even female-dominant, with lower urinary arsenic levels in females resulting from their higher daily urine per weight production. 7,9,121…”

“…Alternatively, arsenic exposure and daily weight-adjusted excretion through urine might be less gender-dissimilar or female-dominant, with lower urinary arsenic levels in females resulting from their higher daily urine per weight production. 7,9,121 The gender inversion of arsenic medians and upper quartiles in blood and urine among 21-35-year-olds in Set 2 (Figure 4) and 21-30-year-olds in Set 1 (Supplementary Excel File), with higher female values, suggests an influence of sex hormones, which are most abundant in this age group. In contrast, lower arsenic values (quartile 1) do not show this inversion, implying that the effect might be limited to moderate and higher arsenic exposure rather than background levels.…”

Hubungan Kekurangan Energi Kronis Pada Ibu Hamil Dengan Kejadian Stunting Pada Bayi Baru Lahir Di Wilayah Kerja Puskesmas Rambipuji Kabupaten Jember

“…Berdasarkan tinggi badan ibu diketahui bahwa rerata ibu memiliki tinggi badan 152,13 cm (SD ± 5,39 cm). Menurut studi oleh Schäppi (2022) tinggi badan normal pada wanita asia berkisar antara 150-160 cm kecuali pada ras hispanik dapat lebih tinggi dari Asia. Menurut Sari (2021) kejadian stunting dimediasi pula oleh kondisi fisik orang tua.…”