Distributional change of women's adult height in low- and middle-income countries over the past half century: An observational study using cross-sectional survey data.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Adult height reflects childhood circumstances and is associated with health, longevity, and maternal-fetal outcomes. Mean height is an important population metric, and declines in height have occurred in several low- and middle-income countries, especially in Africa, over the last several decades. This study examines changes at the population level in the distribution of height over time across a broad range of low- and middle-income countries during the past half century.

Methods and findings

The study population comprised 1,122,845 women aged 25-49 years from 59 countries with women's height measures available from four 10-year birth cohorts from 1950 to 1989 using data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) collected between 1993 and 2013. Multilevel reg

SUBMITTER: Gausman J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5947892 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature