@article{NowakSzczepanskaGomulaIpsenetal.2016,
  author    = {Nowak-Szczepanska, Natalia and Gomula, A. and Ipsen, Marie Josephin and Koziel, Slawomir},
  title     = {Different effects of living conditions on the variation in BMI and height in children before the onset of puberty},
  series = {European journal of clinical nutrition},
  volume    = {70},
  journal   = {European journal of clinical nutrition},
  publisher = {Nature Publ. Group},
  address   = {London},
  issn      = {0954-3007},
  doi       = {10.1038/ejcn.2016.30},
  pages     = {662 -- 666},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {SUBJECTS/METHODS: The study included 5597 boys and 5479 girls aged 7-8 years of age. Socioeconomic status (SES) was defined in three categories: high, medium and low. RESULTS: Between 1966 and 2012, the mean values for height and BMI significantly increased in both sexes (P<0.001). The variation of these two parameters, however, showed a different pattern. Whereas the variation in Z-values for height remained unchanged in both sexes, the variation in BMI increased in boys (P<0.01) but not in girls. SES affected the variation in Z-BMI in 1978 in both sexes (P<0.001), whereas variation in Z-height between SES categories remained unchanged across all years of surveys in boys. Before the political transformation, significant regional differences were observed in the variances of Z-BMI (P<0.05) but not of Z-height. This pattern changed after the political transformation, when regional differences in variances of Z-BMI disappeared. CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that the mean values and the variation of BMI are affected by a changing quality of life, whereas the variation in height is usually independent of living conditions.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{IpsenNowakSzczepanskaGomulaetal.2016,
  author    = {Ipsen, Marie Josephin and Nowak-Szczepanska, Natalia and Gomula, A. and Assmann, Christian and Hermanussen, Michael},
  title     = {The association of body height, height variability and inequality},
  series = {Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft f{\~A}¼r Anthropologie},
  volume    = {73},
  journal   = {Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft f{\~A}¼r Anthropologie},
  publisher = {Schweizerbart},
  address   = {Stuttgart},
  issn      = {0003-5548},
  doi       = {10.1127/anthranz/2015/0623},
  pages     = {1 -- 6},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {Body height is associated with environmental conditions. It has been suggested that under poor conditions when inequality within a population increases, also the variability in height tends to increase. We studied the association of body height, within-country variability in height and geographic and historic origin in 767 growth studies carried out in 80 countries, published between 1794 and 2013, with data on N = 78,184 infants age 2 years, and N = 2,130,729 juveniles age 7 years. The studies represent almost the whole spectrum of economic diversity in human societies since the end-18 th century. 207 studies contained data for both infants and juveniles with 50,819 subjects (age 2), and 123,078 subjects (age 7). Multiple linear regressions showed significant interactions between height, sex, historic year of the study, geographic origin, and within-study standard deviation for height with multiple R-squared = 0.527, p < 0.001, at age 2, and multiple R-squared = 0.436, p < 0.001, at age 7. Yet, the two age groups differed in respect to within-study standard deviation for height. We found a significant association between body height and within-study standard deviation for height only at age 2: tall infant populations are less variable in height (r = -0.27, p < 0.01). There was no such association in children aged 7 years. Tall children from affluent and short children from less affluent countries do not differ in the variability of body height. The data suggest that the 'environmental adversity' hypothesis for variation in growth: small mean values for height go along with large standard deviations for height, does not apply for children at age 7.},
  language  = {en}
}