Oths Kathryn S, Smith Hannah N, Stein Max J, Lazo Landivar Rodrigo J
Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487.
Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003.
Am J Hum Biol. 2018 Mar;30(2). doi: 10.1002/ajhb.23072. Epub 2017 Oct 30.
In the past decade many areas of Peru have been undergoing extreme environmental, economic, and cultural change. In the highland hamlet of Chugurpampa, La Libertad, climate change has ruined harvests and led to frequent periods of migration to the coast in search of livelihood. This biocultural research examines how the changes could be affecting the growth of children who maintain residence in the highlands.
Clinical records from the early 2000s were compared to those from the early 2010s. Charts were randomly selected to record anthropometric data, netting a sample of 75 children ages 0-60 months of age. Analysis of covariance was run to compare mean stature, weight, and BMI between cohorts. Percentage of children who fall below the -2 threshold for z-scores for height and weight were compared by age and cohort.
A significant secular trend in growth was found, with children born more recently larger than those born a decade before. The effect is most notable in the first year of life, with the growth advantage attenuated by the age of 3 for height and age 4 for weight. While children were unlikely to be stunted from 0 to 3 years of age, 44% of the later cohort were stunted and 11% were underweight from 4 to 5 years of age.
Three possible explanations for the rapid shift are entertained: more time spent on the coast during gestation and early childhood, which may attenuate the effect of hypoxia on child growth; dietary change; and increased use of biomedicine.
在过去十年中，秘鲁的许多地区都经历了极端的环境、经济和文化变革。在拉利伯塔德省的楚古尔潘帕高地小村庄，气候变化破坏了收成，导致人们频繁迁移到沿海地区寻找生计。这项生物文化研究考察了这些变化可能如何影响留在高地的儿童的成长。
将21世纪初的临床记录与2010年代初的记录进行比较。随机选择图表记录人体测量数据，获得了75名年龄在0至60个月之间儿童的样本。进行协方差分析以比较各队列之间的平均身高、体重和BMI。按年龄和队列比较身高和体重低于z分数-2阈值的儿童百分比。
发现了显著的生长长期趋势，近期出生的儿童比十年前出生的儿童体型更大。这种影响在生命的第一年最为明显，到3岁时身高增长优势减弱，到4岁时体重增长优势减弱。虽然0至3岁的儿童不太可能发育迟缓，但后一组队列中有44%的儿童在4至5岁时发育迟缓，11%的儿童体重不足。
对于这种快速转变，有三种可能的解释：孕期和幼儿期在沿海地区停留的时间增加，这可能会减弱缺氧对儿童生长的影响；饮食变化；以及生物医学使用的增加。
