Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Unit of Population Epidemiology, Division of Primary Care, Hôpitaux Universitaires Genève, Geneve, Switzerland.
BMJ Open. 2022 Jul 8;12(7):e059568. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-059568.
On the one hand, trends in average height in adulthood mirror changes in living standard and health status of a population and its subgroups; on the other hand, height in general, as well as the loss of height in older age in particular, are associated in different ways with outcomes for health. For these aspects, there is hardly any information for Switzerland based on representative and measured body height data.
Repeated cross-sectional survey study.
Fully anonymised data from the representative population-based Geneva Bus Santé Study between 2005 and 2017 were analysed.
Data from N=8686 study participants were used in the trend analysis. Height was measured and sociodemographic information and self-rated health was collected via questionnaires. Follow-up (mean: 7.1 years) measurements from N=2112 participants were available to assess height loss after age 50.
Women were, on average, 166.2 cm (SD 6.5) tall and men 179.2 cm (SD 6.5). Among men and women, higher socioeconomic status was associated with taller average height. The flattening of the increase in height from the 1970s birth years appears to begin earlier in the subgroup with the highest education level. The tallest average height was measured for men and women from Central and Northern Europe, the shortest for South America and Asia. The likelihood that participants rated their health as 'very good' increased with greater body height. The follow-up data show that men lost -0.11 cm per follow-up year (95% CI -0.12 to -0.10), women -0.17 cm (95% CI -0.18 to 0.15).
The association of height and health status is currently understudied. Monitoring changes in average body height may indicate disparities in different subgroups of populations. Based on our study and a growing literature, we think that the multifaceted role of body height should be better considered in clinical practice.
一方面，成年人的平均身高趋势反映了人口及其亚组的生活水平和健康状况的变化；另一方面，身高总体上，特别是老年人身高的丧失，以不同的方式与健康结果相关。对于这些方面，瑞士几乎没有基于代表性和测量身高数据的信息。
重复的横断面调查研究。
在 2005 年至 2017 年期间，对基于代表性人群的日内瓦巴士健康研究的完全匿名数据进行了分析。
对 N=8686 名研究参与者的数据进行趋势分析。通过问卷收集身高、社会人口统计学信息和自我评估健康状况。在 N=2112 名参与者中可获得 50 岁以后的身高损失随访（平均 7.1 年）测量值，以评估身高损失。
女性平均身高为 166.2cm（SD 6.5），男性为 179.2cm（SD 6.5）。在男性和女性中，较高的社会经济地位与平均身高较高相关。从 20 世纪 70 年代出生年份开始，身高增长的趋平似乎在受教育程度最高的亚组中更早开始。来自中欧和北欧的男性和女性的平均身高最高，来自南美洲和亚洲的身高最矮。参与者自我评估健康状况为“非常好”的可能性随着身高的增加而增加。随访数据显示，男性每年身高损失-0.11cm（95%CI -0.12 至 -0.10），女性身高损失-0.17cm（95%CI -0.18 至 0.15）。
身高与健康状况之间的关联目前研究不足。监测平均身高的变化可能表明人口不同亚组之间存在差异。基于我们的研究和不断增加的文献，我们认为身体身高的多方面作用应该在临床实践中得到更好的考虑。
