Title
Birth seasons and heights among girls and boys below 12 years of age: lasting effects and catch-up growth among native Amazonians in Bolivia
Date Issued
19 May 2018
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Brabec M.
Behrman J.R.
Emmett S.D.
Gibson E.
Kidd C.
Leonard W.
Piantadosi S.T.
Sharma A.
Tanner S.
Undurraga E.A.
Godoy R.A.
Publisher(s)
Taylor and Francis Ltd
Abstract
Background: Seasons affect many social, economic, and biological outcomes, particularly in low-resource settings, and some studies suggest that birth season affects child growth. Aim: To study a predictor of stunting that has received limited attention: birth season. Subjects and methods: This study uses cross-sectional data collected during 2008 in a low-resource society of horticulturists-foragers in the Bolivian Amazon, Tsimane’. It estimates the associations between birth months and height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ) for 562 girls and 546 boys separately, from birth until age 11 years or pre-puberty, which in this society occurs ∼13–14 years. Results: Children born during the rainy season (February–May) were shorter, while children born during the end of the dry season and the start of the rainy season (August–November) were taller, both compared with their age–sex peers born during the rest of the year. The correlations of birth season with HAZ were stronger for boys than for girls. Controlling for birth season, there is some evidence of eventual partial catch-up growth, with the HAZ of girls or boys worsening until ∼ age 4–5 years, but improving thereafter. By age 6 years, many girls and boys had ceased to be stunted, irrespective of birth season. Conclusion: The results suggest that redressing stunting will require attention to conditions in utero, infancy and late childhood.
Start page
299
End page
313
Volume
45
Issue
4
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Nutrición, Dietética
Pediatría
Biología del desarrollo
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85055075398
PubMed ID
Source
Annals of Human Biology
ISSN of the container
03014460
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus