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Pediatrics

The association between obesity and secular trend of stature: a nationwide study of 2.8 million adolescents over five decades

International Journal of Obesity volume 43, pages 1932–1939 (2019)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives

It is unclear whether adolescent obesity is associated with limited linear growth. We assessed this association in a nationwide sample of adolescents.

Methods

We conducted a population-based, study of 2,785,227 Israeli adolescents (60% males) who were examined before military service since 1967 through 2015. Height and weight were measured along with assessment of medical status at age 17.4 ± 0.4 years. The secular trend of height was plotted using United States Center for Disease Control (US CDC) age- and sex-adjusted BMI percentile groups. We accounted for health status at enrollment and computed the expected height based on parental data that was available for 512,978 examinees.

Results

Over five decades, the mean height increased by 3.1 cm among males, but remained unchanged among females. Among males, gain in height was attained predominantly during the first 25 years and has stabilized since. Males with obesity were taller than their normal-weight and underweight counterparts. Underweight girls had a prominent increase in mean height during the first two decades, exceeding the mean height of their counterparts with obesity by over 2 cm. There was a gradual decrease in the difference between measured and expected height in males and females regardless of BMI status, with the exception of the underweight females who achieved consistently higher stature than expected (≥3 cm).

Conclusions

During five decades, excessive BMI was not a limiting factor in growth potential compared with normal BMI in both sexes. The only group that exceeded its growth potential, when accounting for expected mid-parental height, were underweight females with unimpaired health.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Neta Geva, Orit Pinhas-Hamiel

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Surgeon General Headquarters, Israel Defense Forces, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Neta Geva, Estela Derazne & Gilad Twig

  2. Department of Pediatrics B, Soroka Medical Center, Beer Sheva, Israel

    Neta Geva

  3. Pediatric Endocrine and Diabetes Unit, Edmond and Lily Safra Children’s Hospital, Sheba Medical Center, Beer Sheva, Israel

    Orit Pinhas-Hamiel

  4. Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel

    Orit Pinhas-Hamiel, Brian Reichman, Estela Derazne, Asaf Vivante, Yair Barak, Arnon Afek, Amir Tirosh & Gilad Twig

  5. The Women and Children’s Health Research Unit, Gertner Institute, Tel Hashomer, Israel

    Brian Reichman

  6. Department of Pediatrics B, Edmond and Lily Safra Children’s Hospital, Sheba Medical Center, Beer Sheva, Israel

    Asaf Vivante

  7. Central Management, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel

    Arnon Afek

  8. Institute of Endocrinology, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel

    Amir Tirosh

  9. Department of Medicine and the Dr. Pinchas Bornstein Talpiot Medical Leadership Program, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel

    Gilad Twig

  10. Department of Military Medicine, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel

    Gilad Twig

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  1. Neta Geva
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Correspondence to Gilad Twig.

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Geva, N., Pinhas-Hamiel, O., Reichman, B. et al. The association between obesity and secular trend of stature: a nationwide study of 2.8 million adolescents over five decades. Int J Obes 43, 1932–1939 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-019-0371-7

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