TY  - JOUR
A1  - Lehmann, Andreas
A1  - Floris, Joël
A1  - Woitek, Ulrich
A1  - Ruehli, Frank J.
A1  - Staub, Kaspar
T1  - Temporal trends, regional variation and socio-economic differences in height, BMI and body proportions among German conscripts, 1956-2010
JF  - Public Health Nutrition
N2  - Objective: We analyse temporal trends and regional variation among the most recent available anthropometric data from German conscription in the years 2008-2010 and their historical contextualization since 1956. Design/setting/subjects: The overall sample included German conscripts (N 13 857 313) from 1956 to 2010. Results: German conscripts changed from growing in height to growing in breadth. Over the analysed 54 years, average height of 19-year-old conscripts increased by 6.5 cm from 173.5 cm in 1956 (birth year 1937) to 180.0 cm in 2010 (birth year 1991). This increase plateaued since the 1990s (1970s birth years). The increase in average weight, however, did not lessen during the last two decades but increased in two steps: at the end of the 1980s and after 1999. The weight and BMI distributions became increasingly right-skewed, the prevalence of overweight and obesity increased from 11.6 % and 2.1 % in 1984 to 19.9 % and 8.5 % in 2010, respectively. The north-south gradient in height (north = taller) persisted during our observations. Height and weight of conscripts from East Germany matched the German average between the early 1990s and 2009. Between the 1980s and the early 1990s, the average chest circumference increased, the average difference between chest circumference when inhaling and exhaling decreased, as did leg length relative to trunk length. Conclusions: Measuring anthropometric data for military conscripts yielded year-by-year monitoring of the health status of young men at a proscribed age. Such findings contribute to a more precise identification of groups at risk and thus help with further studies and to target interventions.
KW  - Stature
KW  - Obesity
KW  - Secular height trend
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980016002408
SN  - 1368-9800
SN  - 1475-2727
VL  - 20
IS  - 3
SP  - 391
EP  - 403
PB  - Cambridge Univ. Press
CY  - Cambridge
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hermanussen, Michael
A1  - Godina, Elena
A1  - Ruehli, Frank J.
A1  - Blaha, Pawel
A1  - Boldsen, Jesper L.
A1  - van Buuren, Stef
A1  - MacIntyre, Matthew
A1  - Aßmann, Christian
A1  - Ghosh, Arunava
A1  - de Stefano, Gian Fra nco
A1  - Sonkin, Valentin D.
A1  - Tresguerres Hernández, Jesús Ángel Fernández
A1  - Meigen, Christof
A1  - Scheffler, Christiane
A1  - Geiger, Cherie L.
A1  - Lieberman, Leslie Sue
T1  - Growth variation, final height and secular trend : proceedings of the 17th Aschauer Soiree, 7th November 2009
N2  - Growth and body height have always been topics interesting to the public. In particular, the stupendous increase of some 15-19 cm in final adult height during the last 150 years in most European countries (the "secular trend"), the concomitant changes in body and head proportions, the tendency towards early onset of sexual maturation, the changes in the age when final height is being reached, and the very recent trend in body mass index, have generated much scientific literature. The marked plasticity of growth in height and weight over time causes problems. Child growth references differ between nations, they tend to quickly become out of date, and raise a number of questions regarding fitting methods, effects caused by selective drop-out, etc. New findings contradict common beliefs about the primary importance of nutritional and health related factors for secular changes in growth. There appears to be a broad age span from mid-childhood to early adolescence that is characterised by a peculiar insusceptibility. Environmental factors that are known to influence growth during this age span appear to have only little or no impact on final height. Major re- arrangements in height occur at an age when puberty has almost been completed and final height has almost been reached, implying that factors, which drive the secular trend in height, are limited to early childhood and late adolescence.
Y1  - 2010
UR  - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0018442X
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jchb.2010.06.001
SN  - 0018-442X
ER  -