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  - Fritz, Amelie
A1  - Makeyeva, Angelina
A1  - Staub, Kaspar
A1  - Groth, Detlef
T1  - Influence of network properties on a migration induced secular height trend by Monte Carlo simulation
JF  - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie
N2  - Background: Recent research reported height biased migration of taller individuals and a Monte Carlo simulation showed that such preferential migration of taller individuals into network hubs can induce a secular trend of height. In the simulation model taller agents in the hubs raise the overall height of all individuals in the network by a community effect. However, it could be seen that the actual network structure influences the strength of this effect. In this paper the background and the influence of the network structure on the strength of the secular trend by migration is investigated. Material and methods: Three principal network types are analyzed: networks derived from street connections in Switzerland, more regular fishing net like networks and randomly generated ones. Our networks have between 10 and 152 nodes and between 20 and 307 edges connecting the nodes. Depending on the network size between 5.000 and 90.000 agents with an average height of 170 cm (SD 6.5 cm) are initially released into the network. In each iteration new agents are regenerated based on the actual average body height of the previous iteration and, to a certain proportion, corrected by body heights in the neighboring nodes. After generating new agents, a certain number of them migrated into neighbor nodes, the model let preferentially taller agents migrate into network hubs. Migration is balanced by back migration of the same number of agents from nodes with high centrality measures to less connected nodes. The latter is random as well, but not biased by the agents height. Furthermore the distribution of agents per node and their correlation to the centrality of the nodes is varied in a systematic manner. After 100 iterations, the secular trend, i.e. the gain in body height for the different networks, is investigated in relation to the network properties. Results: We observe an increase of average agent body height after 100 iterations if height biased migration is enabled. The increase rate depends on the height of the neighboring factor, the population distribution, the relationship between population in the nodes and their centrality as well as on the network topology. Networks with uniform like distributions of the agents in the nodes, uncorrelated associations between node centrality and agent number per node, as well as very heterogeneous networks with very different node centralities lead to biggest gains in average body height. Conclusion: Our simulations show, that height biased migration into network hubs can possibly contribute to the secular trend of height increase in the human population. The strength of this "tall by migration" event depends on the actual properties of the underlying network. There is a possible significance of this mechanism for social networks, when hubs are represented by individuals and edges as their personal relationships. However, the required high number of iterations to achieve significant effects in more natural network structures in our models requires further studies to test the relevance and real effect sizes in real world scenarios.
KW  - secular trend
KW  - body height
KW  - simulation
KW  - community effect
KW  - Monte Carlo method
KW  - network
KW  - centrality measures
Y1  - 2019
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1127/anthranz/2019/1032
SN  - 0003-5548
VL  - 76
IS  - 5
SP  - 433
EP  - 443
PB  - Schweizerbart
CY  - Stuttgart
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Scheffler, Christiane
A1  - Gniosdorz, Birgit
A1  - Staub, Kaspar
A1  - Rühli, Frank
T1  - Skeletal robustness and bone strength as measured by anthropometry and ultrasonography as a function of physical activity in young adults
Y1  - 2014
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Scheffler, Christiane
A1  - Gniosdorz, Birgit
A1  - Staub, Kaspar
A1  - Ruehli, Frank
T1  - Skeletal Robustness and Bone Strength as Measured by Anthropometry and Ultrasonography as a Function of Physical Activity in Young Adults
JF  - American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council
N2  - Background: During the last 10 years, skeletal robustness in children has generally decreased. The reasons for this phenomenon, as well as its outcomes, are undetermined so far.
 Aim: The present study explores the association between anthropometric skeletal measurements, bone quality measurements, and physical activity in young adults.
 Subjects and Methods: 118 German young men (N=568; 19-25 years old) and women (N=550; 19-24 years old) were investigated by anthropometric methods (i. e., height, weight, shoulder, elbow breadth, and pelvic breadth) and quantitative ultrasound measurement (QUS). Strength and stability of Os calcis have been determined by speed of sound (in m/s) and broadband ultrasound attenuation (in dB/Mhz); individual physical activity was analyzed by a pedometer and by questionnaire.
 Results: The results show a correlation between sports hours per week and bone quality index in males. But no correlation exists between anthropometric data and QUSs for either sexes, as well as no correlation between total steps per day and internal bone quality or external bone dimensions.
 Conclusion: These results are discussed in the context of generally decreasing physical activity, the outcomes of prevention programs as well as evolutionary adaptation of human phenotypic plasticity in a changing environment.
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.22504
SN  - 1042-0533
SN  - 1520-6300
VL  - 26
IS  - 2
SP  - 215
EP  - 220
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Hoboken
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hermanussen, Michael
A1  - Alt, Christoph
A1  - Staub, Kaspar
A1  - Aßmann, Christian
A1  - Groth, Detlef
T1  - The impact of physical connectedness on body height in Swiss conscripts
JF  - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie
N2  - Background: Human populations differ in height. Recent evidence suggests that social networks play an important role in the regulation of adolescent growth and adult height. We further investigated the effect of physical connectedness on height.
 Material and methods: We considered Switzerland as a geographic network with 169 nodes (district capitals) and 335 edges (connecting roads) and studied effects of connectedness on height in Swiss conscript from 1884-1891, 1908-1910, and 2004-2009. We also created exponential-family random graph models to separate possible unspecific effects of geographic vicinity.
 Results: In 1884-1891, in 1908-1910, and in 2004-2009, 1st, 2nd and 3rd order neighboring districts significantly correlate in height (p<0.01). The correlations depend on the order of connectedness, they decline with increasing distance. Short stature districts tend to have short, tall stature districts tend to have tall neighbors. Random network analyses suggest direct road effects on height. Whereas in 1884-1891, direct road effects were only visible between 1st order neighbors, direct road effects extended to 2nd and 3rd in 1908-1910, and in 2004-2009, also to 4th order neighbors, and might reflect historic improvements in transportation. The spatial correlations did not significantly change when height was controlled for goiter (1884-1889) and for median per capita income (2006), suggesting direct road effects also in goiter-allowed-for height and income-allowed-for height.
 Conclusion: Height in a district depends on height of physically connected neighboring districts. The association decreases with increasing distance in the net. The present data suggest that people can be short because their neighbors are short; or tall because their neighbors are tall (community effect on growth). Psycho-biological effects seem to control growth and development within communities that go far beyond our current understanding of growth regulation.
KW  - body height
KW  - connectedness
KW  - community effect
KW  - conscripts
KW  - Switzerland
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1127/0003-5548/2014/0466
SN  - 0003-5548
VL  - 71
IS  - 4
SP  - 313
EP  - 327
PB  - Schweizerbart
CY  - Stuttgart
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hermanussen, Michael
A1  - Lieberman, Leslie Su
A1  - Janewa, V. Schoenfeld
A1  - Scheffler, Christiane
A1  - Ghosh, Arunava
A1  - Bogin, Barry
A1  - Godina, Elena
A1  - Kaczmarek, M.
A1  - El-Shabrawi, M.
A1  - Salama, E. E.
A1  - Rühli, Frank J.
A1  - Staub, Kaspar
A1  - Woitek, U.
A1  - Blaha, Pawel
A1  - Aßmann, Christian
A1  - van Buuren, Stef
A1  - Lehmann, A.
A1  - Satake, T.
A1  - Thodberg, H. H.
A1  - Jopp, E.
A1  - Kirchengast, S.
A1  - Tutkuviene, J.
A1  - McIntyre, M. H.
A1  - Wittwer-Backofen, U.
A1  - Boldsen, Jesper L.
A1  - Martin, D. D.
A1  - Meier, J.
T1  - Diversity in auxology between theory and practice
JF  - Journal of biological and clinical anthropology : Anthropologischer Anzeiger ; Mitteilungsorgan der Gesellschaft für Anthropologie
N2  - Auxology has developed from mere describing child and adolescent growth into a vivid and interdisciplinary research area encompassing human biologists, physicians, social scientists, economists and biostatisticians. The meeting illustrated the diversity in auxology, with the various social, medical, biological and biostatistical aspects in studies on child growth and development.
KW  - child growth
KW  - adolescent growth
KW  - child development
KW  - height
KW  - weight
KW  - body mass
KW  - socio-economic environment
Y1  - 2012
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1127/0003-5548/2012/0133
SN  - 0003-5548
VL  - 69
IS  - 2
SP  - 159
EP  - 174
PB  - Schweizerbart
CY  - Stuttgart
ER  -