Abstract
ObjectivesPeople of low socioeconomic status are shorter than those of high socioeconomic status. The first two years of life being critical for height development, we hypothesized that a low socioeconomic status is associated with a slower linear growth in early childhood. We studied maternal educational level (high, mid-high, mid-low, and low) as a measure of socioeconomic status and its association with repeatedly measured height in children aged 0–2 years, and also examined to what extent known determinants of postnatal growth contribute to this association.MethodsThis study was based on data from 2972 mothers with a Dutch ethnicity, and their children participating in The Generation R Study, a population-based cohort study in Rotterdam, the Netherlands (participation rate 61%). All children were born between April 2002 and January 2006. Height was measured at 2 months (mid-90% range 1.0–3.9), 6 months (mid-90% range 5.6–11.4), 14 months (mid-90% range 13.7–17.9) and 25 months of age (mid-90% range 23.6–29.6).ResultsAt 2 months, children in the lowest educational subgroup were shorter than those in the highest (difference: −0.87 cm; 95% CI: −1.16, −0.58). Between 1 and 18 months, they grew faster than their counterparts. By 14 months, children in the lowest educational subgroup were taller than those in the highest (difference at 14 months: 0.40 cm; 95% CI: 0.08,0.72). Adjustment for other determinants of postnatal growth did not explain the taller height. On the contrary, the differences became even larger (difference at 14 months: 0.61 cm; 95% CI: 0.26,0.95; and at 25 months: 1.00 cm; 95% CI: 0.57,1.43)ConclusionsCompared with children of high socioeconomic status, those of low socioeconomic status show an accelerated linear growth until the18th month of life, leading to an overcompensation of their initial height deficit. The long-term consequences of these findings remain unclear and require further study.
Highlights
Height is a widely accepted marker of population health [1]
The first two years of life are critical for height development; they form the period of fastest growth in the entire postnatal life span, meaning that factors negatively influencing growth would have the greatest impact during this window of time [7,8]
Because it has been suggested that body mass or fatness partly regulates linear growth [33,34], we evaluated the contribution of the child’s body mass index (BMI) at time of height measurement, as well as the change in BMI during the preceding periods
Summary
Height is a widely accepted marker of population health [1]. Many studies have shown adult height to be negatively associated with morbidity and mortality from various diseases [2,3,4,5]. A study using data from 4 Scandinavian twin studies to assess the association between height and death from coronary heart disease found that even within twin pairs discordant for height and coronary heart disease, height was inversely associated with risk for death from coronary heart disease [6]. This suggests that the association between height and coronary heart disease risk is due to environmental factors influencing childhood growth. Poor growth in the first two years of life has been shown to track into adulthood; undernutrition in early life has been shown to be strongly associated with shorter adult height and with economic outcomes such as lower human capital [9]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
