Social Inequalities in Height: Persisting Differences Today Depend Upon Height of the Parents

Overview

Journal PLoS One

Specialties General Medicine
Science

Date 2012 Jan 13

PMID 22238588

Citations 16

Authors

Bruna Galobardes

Valerie A McCormack

Peter McCarron

Laura D Howe

John Lynch

Debbie A Lawlor

George Davey Smith

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Substantial increases in height have occurred concurrently with economic development in most populations during the last century. In high-income countries, environmental exposures that can limit genetic growth potential appear to have lessened, and variation in height by socioeconomic position may have diminished. The objective of this study is to investigate inequalities in height in a cohort of children born in the early 1990s in England, and to evaluate which factors might explain any identified inequalities.

Methods And Findings: 12,830 children from The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a population based cohort from birth to about 11.5 years of age, were used in this analysis. Gender- and age-specific z-scores of height at different ages were used as outcome variables. Multilevel models were used to take into account the repeated measures of height and to analyze gender- and age-specific relative changes in height from birth to 11.5 years. Maternal education was the main exposure variable used to examine socioeconomic inequalities. The roles of parental and family characteristics in explaining any observed differences between maternal education and child height were investigated. Children whose mothers had the highest education compared to those with none or a basic level of education, were 0.39 cm longer at birth (95% CI: 0.30 to 0.48). These differences persisted and at 11.5 years the height difference was 1.4 cm (95% CI: 1.07 to 1.74). Several other factors were related to offspring height, but few changed the relationship with maternal education. The one exception was mid-parental height, which fully accounted for the maternal educational differences in offspring height.

Conclusions: In a cohort of children born in the 1990s, mothers with higher education gave birth to taller boys and girls. Although height differences were small they persisted throughout childhood. Maternal and paternal height fully explained these differences.

Citing Articles

Time trends in body height according to educational level. A descriptive study from the Tromsø Study 1979-2016.

Arntsen S, Borch K, Wilsgaard T, Njolstad I, Hansen A PLoS One. 2023; 18(1):e0279965.

PMID: 36696372 PMC: 9876240. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0279965.

Growing taller unequally? Adult height and socioeconomic status in Spain (Cohorts 1940-1994).

Candela-Martinez B, Camara A, Lopez-Falcon D, Martinez-Carrion J SSM Popul Health. 2022; 18:101126.

PMID: 35669890 PMC: 9163098. DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101126.

Adolescent Cranial Volume as a Sensitive Marker of Parental Investment: The Role of Non-material Resources?.

Lauringson V, Veldre G, Horak P Front Psychol. 2021; 11:602401.

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Childhood adherence to a potentially healthy and sustainable Nordic diet and later overweight: The Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa).

Agnihotri N, Overby N, Bere E, Wills A, Brantsaeter A, Hillesund E Matern Child Nutr. 2020; 17(2):e13101.

PMID: 33103349 PMC: 7988855. DOI: 10.1111/mcn.13101.

Income inequality and social gradients in children's height: a comparison of cohort studies from five high-income countries.

Bird P, Pickett K, Graham H, Faresjo T, Jaddoe V, Ludvigsson J BMJ Paediatr Open. 2020; 3(1):e000568.

PMID: 31909223 PMC: 6937032. DOI: 10.1136/bmjpo-2019-000568.

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