OBJECTIVES Twin studies present a unique opportunity to examine the association of birth weight with adult life phenotypes in a design that naturally accounts for maternal factors and a range of early environmental factors, which might potentially bias the association. In this study, we explored the association of birth weight with osteoporosis (OP) and osteoarthritis (OA), in a large national ...

BACKGROUND Adolescent pregnancy and childbirth are associated with increased risk and challenges for both mothers and birth outcomes. OBJECTIVE To investigate the associations of growth change over time with parenting factors and to compare the differences between children born to adolescent and adult mothers in Taiwan. MATERIALS AND METHODS The dataset retrieved from Taiwan birth cohort st...

Birth weight has correlated positively with adult body mass index (BMI), but rarely have birth length, duration of gestation, or parents' body size been taken into account. The authors examined tracking of birth length and weight, adjusted for gestational age, to late adolescence, with special reference to parents' height and BMI. Longitudinal information from a nationally representative sample...

Previous research on the relationship between height and reproductive success in women has produced mixed results. One possible explanation for these is mediation by ecological factors, such as environmental stress. Here we investigate female height and reproductive success under conditions of environmental stress (poverty) using a large scale dataset from Guatemala (n = 2,571). Controlling for...

Abstract Height is the result of a complex process of growth that begins at birth and reaches the end in early adulthood. This paper studies the determinants of height from birth to maturity. A height production function is specified whose structure allows height to be the result of the accumulation of inputs (i.e., nutrition and diseases) over time. The empirical specification allows the causa...

A case control study of "small for date" and premature infants was conducted at 17 hospitals in Tehran between December 1989 and June 1990. The study population consisted of mothers of 347 small for date, 261 premature and 1164 normal infants. Mothers who were less than 18 years old and their height less than 155 cm had a statistically significant RRF. (2.18) for the birth of small for dat...

BACKGROUND The pattern of obesity in relation to socioeconomic status is of public health concern. This study investigates whether the association between height and obesity in children is affected by their socioeconomic background. It also explores the relationship between high birth weight and obesity. METHODS School children, (N=557; 5 to 12 years old) were recruited from randomly selected...