[Body height, body weight and body mass index of German military recruits. Historical retrospect and current status].

Surveys of conscripts give a chance to pursue the somatic development and the nourishment situation of young men over long times. At the beginning a historical view is given of the organization and methodological basis of medical examinations of German recruits since the introduction of the general conscription at the beginning of the 19th century. Secular changes of the body height are sketched out for selected regions of Germany until the middle of the 20th century. Data of the body weight hardly exist for this time. Until now the greatest continuous documentation of data for body height and body weight is available for West Germany since 1957 and for East Germany between 1973 and the reunion in 1989. The body height of German conscripts has nearly permanently increased since 1957 and reached in 1994 a maximum with 180.0 cm. In general East German conscripts have body height data which are smaller on an average than those of West German conscripts. But in the last years a catch-up in body height could be seen. The body weight of German conscripts also shows an increase apart from some short-time exceptions. The data of West German conscripts are also higher than those of the East German conscripts. Until the reunion the West-East-differences could partly be due to the different mustering age. But the differences also continue in the nineties despite the now identical mustering age. The Body Mass Index (BMI) of the German conscripts (calculated from the average values of body height and body weight) is characterized by increments in the last years. This indicates greater changes in body weight than in body height. The BMI also shows marked West-East-differences. There is no uniform tendency in differences between urban and country side regions for body height and body weight. On the other hand until now differences between selected professional groups are existing. Especially the over-proportional increase of the number of conscripts in the higher body-weight-classes requires a further continuous analysis of the available mustering data.