[Assessment of height as an indicator of population nutritional status].
BACKGROUND
Chilean girls of middle and low socioeconomic levels are shorter than their European or North American counterparts.


OBJECTIVE
To challenge the hypothesis that undernutrition is the cause of the shorter stature of Chilean girls.


METHODS
Height, weight, sexual maturation, biacromial and bi-iliac diameters of low and middle socioeconomic level Chilean children aged 0 to 20 years old, were compared with data from French, English and North American children in the same age range.


RESULTS
Chilean girls had an earlier sexual maturation, had bigger biacromial and bi-iliac diameters and had a higher weight for height than European girls. Weight for height of these girls was over the values proposed by the Chilean Ministry of Health, that are based in NCHS/WHO tables. Chilean girls with recent European ancestry were taller than girls without this ancestry. Chilean boys were smaller and had lower weights than their foreign counterparts. Bi-iliac diameters were similar to those of French boys and sexual maturation was similar to English boys.


CONCLUSIONS
These results indicate that genetics and not undernutrition is involved in the shorter height of Chilean girls, when compared with their European or North American counterparts.
Valenzuela
C Y
CY
Departamento de Biología Celular y Genética, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001827:Body Height / Q000208:ethnology; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002677:Chile; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009656:North America; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009752:Nutritional Status; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
Evaluación de la estatura como indicador nutricional poblacional.