Article
Social class difference in catch up growth in a national British
cohort
H Teranishia, H Nakagawab, M Marmotc
a Department of Public
Health, Faculty of Medicine, Toyama Medical & Pharmaceutical
University, Toyama 930-0194, Japan, b Department of Public Health, Kanazawa Medical
University, Japan, c Department
of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London,
UK
Correspondence to: Dr Teranishi hiterani{at}ms.toyama-mpu.ac.jp
Accepted 19 October
2000
AIM
To examine the influence of
socioeconomic status on growth pattern in height from age 7 to 23 years.
METHODSProspective cohort study. A
total of 10 200 white singleton born children from the 1958 British
birth cohort (National Child Development Study) were analysed.
RESULTSDifferences in height
by birth weight persisted throughout the follow up period. However, the
mean differences in height between low birth weight infants (<2500 g)
and adequate birth weight infants (
2500 g) were less notable in
social classes I and II than in the lower social classes. The catching
up of growth in height of low birth weight infants was also more
pronounced in social classes I and II than in other social classes.
That is, the mean height deficits of low birth weight infants were
decreased from 2.9 cm at age 7, to 1.6 cm at age 16, and 2.5 cm at age
23; the significant difference disappeared after age 16 in social
classes I and II. Although such improving tendency was more pronounced among the preterm born infants, a similar growth pattern was observed among the term infants. Such improvement was not observed in the other
social classes.
CONCLUSIONThe growth retardation
in height by birth weight can be overcome by improved social conditions
and proper health care from childhood to adulthood.
Keywords: height; low birth weight; social environment; longitudinal study
© 2001 by Archives of Disease in Childhood
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