title: Morbid obesity is associated with short stature.
abstract: Body height and body mass index (BMI) were obtained from 807,592 German conscripts born between 1974 and 1978, aged 19-20 years. The conscripts had either completed Gymnasium (secondary school, more than 10 years, A-level), Realschule (secondary school, 10 years, O-level), or Hauptschule (elementary school, 9 years). Maternal data on body height and weight at the beginning of pregnancy from 1,432,368 women were obtained from the German birth statistics (deutsche Perinatalerhebung) 1995-1997. Morbid obesity is associated with short stature. Regardless of school education, average stature of conscripts progressively declines by up to 10 cm when the BMI increases above 38 kg/m2. In addition, morbidly obese young women are shorter than average, though the impact of overweight on adult stature appears to be less pronounced than in males.
authors.affiliation: Aschauhof, Altenhof, Germany. hermanussen.aschauhof@t-online.de
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hermanussen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sunder
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Voigt
authors.forename: J A F
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Tresguerres
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011247:Pregnancy