Time trends in body height according to educational level. A descriptive study from the Tromsø Study 1979–2016
Objectives The objective of our study was to describe time trends in body height according to attained educational level in women and men in Norway. Methods We used previously collected data from six repeated cross-sectional studies in the population based Tromsø Study 1979–2016. Measured body heigh...
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crplos:10.1371/journal.pone.0279965 2024-05-19T07:49:32+00:00 Time trends in body height according to educational level. A descriptive study from the Tromsø Study 1979–2016 Arntsen, Sondre Haakonson Borch, Kristin Benjaminsen Wilsgaard, Tom Njølstad, Inger Hansen, Anne Helen Böckerman, Petri Norwegian Research Council 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279965 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279965 en eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ PLOS ONE volume 18, issue 1, page e0279965 ISSN 1932-6203 journal-article 2023 crplos https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279965 2024-05-01T07:02:44Z Objectives The objective of our study was to describe time trends in body height according to attained educational level in women and men in Norway. Methods We used previously collected data from six repeated cross-sectional studies in the population based Tromsø Study 1979–2016. Measured body height in cm and self-reported educational level were the primary outcome measures. We included 31 466 women and men aged 30–49 years, born between 1930 and 1977. Participants were stratified by 10-year birth cohorts and allocated into four groups based on attained levels of education. Descriptive statistics was used to estimate mean body height and calculate height differences between groups with different educational levels. Results Mean body height increased by 3.4 cm (95% confidence interval (CI) 3.0, 3.8) in women (162.5–165.9 cm) and men (175.9–179.3 cm) between 1930 and 1977. The height difference between groups with primary education compared to long tertiary education was 5.1 cm (95% CI 3.7, 6.5) in women (161.6–166.7 cm) and 4.3 cm (95% CI 3.3, 5.3) in men (175.0–179.3 cm) born in 1930–39. The height differences between these educational groups were reduced to 3.0 cm (95% CI 1.9, 4.1) in women (163.6–166.6 cm) and 2.0 cm (95% CI 0.9, 3.1) in men (178.3–180.3 cm) born in 1970–77. Conclusions Body height increased in women and men. Women and men with long tertiary education had the highest mean body height, which remained stable across all birth cohorts. Women and men in the three other groups had a gradual increase in height by birth cohort, reducing overall height differences between educational groups in our study population. Article in Journal/Newspaper Tromsø PLOS PLOS ONE 18 1 e0279965 |
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Objectives The objective of our study was to describe time trends in body height according to attained educational level in women and men in Norway. Methods We used previously collected data from six repeated cross-sectional studies in the population based Tromsø Study 1979–2016. Measured body height in cm and self-reported educational level were the primary outcome measures. We included 31 466 women and men aged 30–49 years, born between 1930 and 1977. Participants were stratified by 10-year birth cohorts and allocated into four groups based on attained levels of education. Descriptive statistics was used to estimate mean body height and calculate height differences between groups with different educational levels. Results Mean body height increased by 3.4 cm (95% confidence interval (CI) 3.0, 3.8) in women (162.5–165.9 cm) and men (175.9–179.3 cm) between 1930 and 1977. The height difference between groups with primary education compared to long tertiary education was 5.1 cm (95% CI 3.7, 6.5) in women (161.6–166.7 cm) and 4.3 cm (95% CI 3.3, 5.3) in men (175.0–179.3 cm) born in 1930–39. The height differences between these educational groups were reduced to 3.0 cm (95% CI 1.9, 4.1) in women (163.6–166.6 cm) and 2.0 cm (95% CI 0.9, 3.1) in men (178.3–180.3 cm) born in 1970–77. Conclusions Body height increased in women and men. Women and men with long tertiary education had the highest mean body height, which remained stable across all birth cohorts. Women and men in the three other groups had a gradual increase in height by birth cohort, reducing overall height differences between educational groups in our study population. |
author2 |
Böckerman, Petri Norwegian Research Council |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Arntsen, Sondre Haakonson Borch, Kristin Benjaminsen Wilsgaard, Tom Njølstad, Inger Hansen, Anne Helen |
spellingShingle |
Arntsen, Sondre Haakonson Borch, Kristin Benjaminsen Wilsgaard, Tom Njølstad, Inger Hansen, Anne Helen Time trends in body height according to educational level. A descriptive study from the Tromsø Study 1979–2016 |
author_facet |
Arntsen, Sondre Haakonson Borch, Kristin Benjaminsen Wilsgaard, Tom Njølstad, Inger Hansen, Anne Helen |
author_sort |
Arntsen, Sondre Haakonson |
title |
Time trends in body height according to educational level. A descriptive study from the Tromsø Study 1979–2016 |
title_short |
Time trends in body height according to educational level. A descriptive study from the Tromsø Study 1979–2016 |
title_full |
Time trends in body height according to educational level. A descriptive study from the Tromsø Study 1979–2016 |
title_fullStr |
Time trends in body height according to educational level. A descriptive study from the Tromsø Study 1979–2016 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Time trends in body height according to educational level. A descriptive study from the Tromsø Study 1979–2016 |
title_sort |
time trends in body height according to educational level. a descriptive study from the tromsø study 1979–2016 |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279965 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279965 |
genre |
Tromsø |
genre_facet |
Tromsø |
op_source |
PLOS ONE volume 18, issue 1, page e0279965 ISSN 1932-6203 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279965 |
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PLOS ONE |
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18 |
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1 |
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e0279965 |
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