Dataset Information

Why did children grow so well at hard times? The ultimate importance of pathogen control during puberty.

ABSTRACT:

Background and objectives

Secular increase in human height and performance occurred in Europe throughout the 20th century despite the temporally worsening access to nutrients during and after World War II. This pattern is paradoxical under the assumption of the major impact of pre- and postnatal growth conditions for determination of adult size and human capital.

Methodology

We examined the anthropometric parameters of Estonian girls born between 1938 and 1953, and measured around the age of 17 (n = 1475). This period involved two opposite trends in the economic and epidemiological situation: increasing birth-time economic hardships during the war and particularly in the post-war period, and decreasing infant mortality (a proxy of disease burden) after 1947.

Results

Height of girls was negatively affected by the number of siblings and positively by parental socioeconomic position, but these effects were weaker than the secular trend. Leg length (an indicator of pre-pubertal growth conditions) was independent of age and birth date while all other traits, including measures of performance (cranial volume, lung capacity and handgrip strength) showed acceleration. The best predictor of size at age 17 was, in most cases, infant mortality in the year when the girls were aged 11.

Conclusions and implications

Reduction of disease burden during pubertal growth can override effects of resource shortage at birth. Our results also support the idea that increasing efficiency of pathogen control can contribute to the secular increase in cognitive abilities, i.e. the Flynn effect, and that epidemiological transition is the main driver of secular increase in human capital.

SUBMITTER: Horak P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4530472 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Why did children grow so well at hard times? The ultimate importance of pathogen control during puberty.

Hõrak Peeter P Valge Markus M

Evolution, medicine, and public health 20150721 1

<h4>Background and objectives</h4>Secular increase in human height and performance occurred in Europe throughout the 20th century despite the temporally worsening access to nutrients during and after World War II. This pattern is paradoxical under the assumption of the major impact of pre- and postnatal growth conditions for determination of adult size and human capital.<h4>Methodology</h4>We examined the anthropometric parameters of Estonian girls born between 1938 and 1953, and measured around ...[more]

PMID: 26198188

Similar Datasets

Project description:BACKGROUND:The neuropeptide kisspeptin stimulates luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion in healthy adults but not in adults with idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. We hypothesized that, in children presenting with delayed or stalled puberty, kisspeptin would elicit LH secretion in those children found on detailed nighttime neuroendocrine profiling to have evidence of emerging reproductive endocrine function. METHODS:Eleven boys and four girls were admitted overnight to assess LH secretion at baseline, after a single intravenous bolus of kisspeptin, and after a single intravenous bolus of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). Subjects then received exogenous pulsatile GnRH for 6 days and returned for a second visit to measure responses to kisspeptin and GnRH after this pituitary "priming." Responses to kisspeptin and GnRH were also measured in 5 healthy men. RESULTS:Of the 15 children with delayed/stalled puberty, 6 exhibited at least one spontaneous LH pulse overnight; all of these subjects had clear responses to kisspeptin, as did one additional subject. Seven subjects had no response to kisspeptin, and one subject exhibited an intermediate response. In the children who responded to kisspeptin, the responses had features comparable to those of adult men. CONCLUSION:In this first report of kisspeptin administration to pediatric subjects to our knowledge, children with delayed/stalled puberty showed a wide range of responses, with some showing a robust response and others showing little to no response. Further follow-up will determine whether responses to kisspeptin predict future pubertal entry for children with delayed puberty. TRIAL REGISTRATION:ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01438034 and NCT01952782. FUNDING:NIH Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01 HD043341, R01 HD090071, P50 HD028138), NIH National Center for Advancing Translational (UL1 TR001102), NIH National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (T32 DK007028), the Massachusetts General Hospital Executive Committee on Research Fund for Medical Discovery, Harvard Catalyst, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (award 2013110), Charles H. Hood Foundation, Robert and Laura Reynolds MGH Research Scholar Program, and Harvard University. These funding sources had no role in the design of this study and did not have any role in conducting the study, analyses, interpretation of the data, or the decision to submit results.

Dataset Information

Why did children grow so well at hard times? The ultimate importance of pathogen control during puberty.

Background and objectives

Methodology

Results

Conclusions and implications

Publications

Why did children grow so well at hard times? The ultimate importance of pathogen control during puberty.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets