Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T08:44:09.784Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Early-life disease environment and adult height in historical populations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2021

Bruno Casal Open the ORCID record for Bruno Casal [Opens in a new window] ,
Berta Rivera  and
Estefanía Mourelle Open the ORCID record for Estefanía Mourelle [Opens in a new window]
Bruno Casal*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of A Coruña, A Coruña, Spain
Berta Rivera
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of A Coruña, A Coruña, Spain
Estefanía Mourelle
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of A Coruña, A Coruña, Spain
*
Address for correspondence: Bruno Casal, Department of Economics, University of A Coruña, Campus de Elviña, 15071, A Coruña, Spain. Email: bruno.casal@udc.es
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Nutrition and the incidence of diseases during early life are considered environmental factors that determine people’s height when they become adults. While there is extensive literature focusing on the relationship between physical growth, general mortality and infant mortality rates, few studies analyse the impact of certain disease groups on the final height of historical populations. Using regional mortality rates by causes of death, the main objective of this study is to determine the onset of the disease environment during early life for populations born in Spain between 1916 and 1930, and its relationship with the stature reached at 21 years of age. A population-averaged model is performed on epidemic-infectious, gastrointestinal, and congenital diseases during the gestation period and first year of life. The disease burden in early life had a statistically significant negative effect on adult stature. These results support the premise that an improvement in the disease environment could lead to a greater number of short children surviving and therefore a decrease in the average height.

Keywords

Disease burdenepidemiological transitionheighthistorical populations
Type
Original Article
Information
Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , June 2022 , pp. 330 - 337
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press in association with International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Jelenkovic, A, Sund, R, Hur, YM, et al. Genetic and environmental influences on height from infancy to early adulthood: an individual-based pooled analysis of 45 twin cohorts. Sci Rep. 2016; 6, 28496.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costa-Font, J, Gil, J. Generational effects and gender height dimorphism in contemporary Spain. Econ Hum Biol. 2008; 6, 1–18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
María-Dolores, R, Martínez-Carrión, JM. The relationship between height and economic development in Spain, 1850–1958. Econ Hum Biol. 2011; 9, 30–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Falkner, F, Tanner, JM. Human Growth: A Comprehensive Treatise. Volume 3: Methodology and Ecological Genetic and Nutritional Effects on Growth, 1986. Plenum Press, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanner, JM. Growth as a mirror of conditions in society. In Growth as a Mirror of Condition in Society (ed. Lindgren, L), 1990; pp. 9–48. Institute of Education Press, Stockholm.Google Scholar
Costa, D, Steckel, RH. Long-term trends in health, welfare, and economic growth in the United States. In Health and Welfare during Industrialization (eds. Steckel, RH, Floud, R), 1997; pp. 47–90. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Eveleth, PB, Tanner, JM. Worldwide Variation in Human Growth, 1990. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Deaton, A. Height, health, and development. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2007; 104, 13232–13237.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bozzoli, C, Deaton, A, Quintana-Domeque, C. Adult height and childhood disease. Demography. 2009; 46, 647–669.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stulp, G, Barrett, L. Evolutionary perspectives on human height variation. Biol Rev. 2016; 91, 206–234.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steckel, RH. Percentiles of modern height standards for use in historical research. NBER Hist Paper. 1995; 75.Google Scholar
Steckel, RH. Stature and the standard of living. J Econ Lit. 1995; 33, 1903–1940.Google Scholar
Floud, R, Gregory, A, Wachter, K. Height, Health and History: Nutritional Status in the United Kingdom, 1750–1980, 1990. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quiroga, MG. Medidas Antropométricas y Condiciones de Vida En La España Del Siglo XX (PhD), 2003. Universoty of Alcalá, Madrid.Google Scholar
Schmidt, IM, Jørgensen, MH, Michaelsen, KF. Height of conscripts in Europe: is postneonatal mortality a predictor? Ann Hum Biol. 1995; 22, 57–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Martorell, R. Child growth retardation: a discussion of its causes and its relationship to health. In Nutritional Adaptation in Man (eds. Blaxter, KL, Waterlow, JC), 1985; pp. 13–30. John Libbey, London.Google Scholar
Martorell, R. Body size, adaptation and function. Hum Organ. 1989; 48, 15–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haines, MR. Health, height, nutrition, and mortality: evidence on the ‘Antebellum Puzzle’ from Union army recruits for New York State and the United States. In The Biological Standard of Living in Comparative Perspective (eds. Komlos, J, Baten, J), 1998; pp. 155–175. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Fogel, RW. Nutrition and the decline in mortality since 1700: some preliminary findings. In Long-Term Factors in American Economic Growth (eds. Engerman, SL, Gallman, RL), 1986; pp. 439–556. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Carrión, JMM. La estatura humana como un indicador del bienestar económico: un test local en la España del siglo XIX. J Iber Pop Stud. 1991; 9, 51–78.Google Scholar
Carrion, JMM. Stature, welfare, and economic growth in nineteenth-century Spain: the case of Murcia. In Stature, Living Standards, and Economic Development: Essays in Anthropometric History (ed. Komlos, J), 1994; pp. 76–89. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Quintana-Domeque, C, Bozzoli, C, Bosch, M. Infant mortality and adult stature in Spain. Soc Sci Med. 2011; 72, 1893–1903.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spijker, JJ, Cámara, AD, Blanes, A. The health transition and biological living standards: adult height and mortality in 20th-century Spain. Econ Hum Biol. 2012; 10, 276–288.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spanish National Institute of Statistics. Movimiento natural de la población de España. Anuarios Estadísticos de España (Natural Population Movement in Spain. Statistical Yearbook of Spain), 1916–1930. 2018. http://www.ine.es/inebaseweb/libros.do?tntp=25687#.Google Scholar
Nicolau, R. Población, salud y actividad. In Estadísticas históricas de España: siglo XIX-XX (Population, Health and Activity. In Spanish Historical Statistics: 19th–20th Centuries) (eds. Carreras, A, Tafunell, X), 2005; pp. 77–154. Fundación BBVA, Bilbao.Google Scholar
Blanes, A. La Mortalidad en la España del Siglo XX: Análisis Demográfico y Territorial (PhD), 2007. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona.Google Scholar
University of California, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research. Human Mortality Database. 2018. www.mortality.org.Google Scholar
Fogel, RW. Economic growth, population theory, and physiology: the bearing of long-term processes on the making of economic policy. Am Econ Rev. 1994; 84, 369–395.Google Scholar
Strauss, J, Thomas, D. Human resources: empirical modelling of household and family decisions. In Handbook of Development Economics (eds. Behrman, J, Srinivasan, TN), 1995; pp. 1883–2023. North-Holland, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Fogel, RW, Costa, DL. A theory of technophysio evolution, with some implications for forecasting population, health care costs, and pension costs. Demography. 1997; 34, 49–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Arora, S. On epidemiologic and economic transitions: a historical view. In Health and Economic Growth. Findings and Policy Implications (eds. Lopez-Cassanovas, G, Rivera, B, Currais, L), 2005; pp. 197–238. MIT Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Riley, JC. Height, nutrition, and mortality risk reconsidered. J Interdiscip Hist. 1994; 24, 465–492.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alter, G. Height, frailty, and the standard of living: modelling the effects of diet and disease on declining mortality and increasing height. Popul Stud. 2004; 58, 265–279.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Estrada, K, Krawczak, M, Schreiber, S, et al. A genome-wide association study of northwestern Europeans involves the C-type natriuretic peptide signaling pathway in the etiology of human height variation. Hum Mol Genet. 2009; 18, 3516–3524.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barker, DJP. Foetal and Infant Origins of Adult Disease, 1992. British Medical Journal Publishing Group, Southampton.Google Scholar
Scrimshaw, NS. More evidence that foetal nutrition contributes to chronic disease in later life. BMJ. 1997; 315, 825–826.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hatton, TJ. How have Europeans grow so tall? Oxford Econ Papers. 2014; 66, 349–372 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, EB, Ogasawara, K. Disease and child growth in industrialising Japan: critical windows and the growth pattern, 1917–39. Explor Econ Hist. 2018; 69, 64–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harambat, J, Bonthuis, M, van Stralen, KJ, et al. Adult height in patients with advanced CKD requiring renal replacement therapy during childhood. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol. 2014; 9, 92–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lèger, J. Endocrinology and adolescence: congenital hypothyroidism: a clinical update of long-term outcome in young adults. Eur J Endocrinol. 2015; 172, R67–R77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spijker, J, Pérez, J, Cámara, AD. Cambios generacionales de la estatura en la España del siglo XX a partir de la Encuesta Nacional de Salud. Rev Estad Esp. 2008; 50, 571–604.Google Scholar
Linares-Luján, AM, Parejo-Moruno, FM. Estatura y esperanza de vida: una propuesta de revisión de las series antropométricas españolas a partir de una medida alternativa de sobrevivencia. Asoc Esp Hist Econ Working Paper 2015; 1506.Google Scholar