Abstract
In this article, we present a review of the studies on the heights of children and teenagers in Colombia published since 1957. We focus on examining the geographic coverage, features of the population studied, height measurement techniques, authors’ profiles, and growth patterns in children. This relatively recent literature has been developed mainly by medical doctors who carried out rigorous measurements with highly specific time and space horizons. The first studies emphasized the differences among socioeconomic levels. Later, there was an interest in minority groups, such as indigenous people and Afro-descendants. Although most of the research lacked long-term vision, the overall balance shows that the country has been improving in anthropometric indicators over time, across territories, and in different socioeconomic groups.
Highlights
Anthropometric indicators, especially height, have been extensively used in the health sciences and in economics to study biological well-being, both in a given moment and over time
We focus on geographic coverage, features of the population studied, height measurement techniques, authors’ profiles, and growth patterns of children over the last sixty years
The final height heightofofananindividual, individual, which is reached around years ofisage, is the
Summary
Anthropometric indicators, especially height, have been extensively used in the health sciences and in economics to study biological well-being, both in a given moment and over time. The average values for children’s heights and weights reflect their nutritional status when the differences in genetic potential are properly taken into account [1]. For this reason, these variables are a good indicator of social progress, since they reflect the nutritional and health conditions during the years of growth: 0–21 years. The natural tendency towards balance between height and weight is one of the adaptation mechanisms to the environmental conditions of organisms [3] For this reason, when comparing the growths of different populations (over time or crosswise), the differences in the environmental conditions to which they are subjected are indirectly examined. When the latter are unfavorable, the individuals do not reach the growth potential contained in their genes
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