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. 2012 Feb;66(2):143-8.
doi: 10.1136/jech.2010.113068. Epub 2010 Aug 18.

Socioeconomic differences in childhood growth trajectories: at what age do height inequalities emerge?

Laura D Howe  1 , Kate Tilling, Bruna Galobardes, George Davey Smith, David Gunnell, Debbie A Lawlor
Affiliations

Socioeconomic differences in childhood growth trajectories: at what age do height inequalities emerge?

Laura D Howe et al. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2012 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Socioeconomic differentials in adult height are frequently observed, but the age at which these inequalities emerge and the patterns they follow through childhood are unknown.

Subjects and methods: Using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), height trajectories from birth to 10 years (N=12366) were modelled. Individual trajectories were estimated using mixed-effects models. Differences in trajectories by socioeconomic position (SEP) were investigated.

Results: There was a clear gradient in birth length across categories of maternal education; average birth length in boys was 0.41 cm lower in the lowest maternal education category compared with the highest, which is 0.9% of the average birth length for the highest SEP category (equivalent results for girls 0.65 cm, 1.3%). Socioeconomic differences in childhood growth were small, and only resulted in minimal widening of the height inequality with increasing age. By the age of 10 years, the mean difference between children in the lowest and highest maternal education categories was 1.4 cm for boys and 1.7 cm for girls; similar proportionate differences to those seen at birth (1.0% for boys and 1.2% for girls). Patterns were the same when father's education or household occupational social class were used to measure SEP.

Conclusions: The socioeconomic differential in height during childhood in this cohort of children born in the UK in the 1990s arises largely through inequalities in birth length, with small increases in the inequality from differences in growth in later childhood.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Average height (cm) trajectories for boys and girls predicted by the multilevel models.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Average predicted growth trajectories for boys in the lowest and highest maternal education categories.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Average predicted growth trajectories for girls in the lowest and highest maternal education categories.
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