title: Ethnic differences in growth in early childhood: an investigation of two potential mechanisms.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There are clear ethnic differences in birthweight. This study examines whether and how these disparities are replicated in a later marker of physical development, height at 5 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Observational data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study, constructed to over-represent ethnic minority (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Black African, Black Caribbean and Other) children.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean birthweight of ethnic minority children was lower than that of the ethnic majority (3.06-3.34 kg vs. 3.41 kg), but ethnic minority children were not shorter at 5 years. Pakistani, Caribbean and African children were actually taller on average (by 0.5 cm, 1.4 cm and 3.5 cm). Controlling for parental height and birthweight did not affect height differentials. Two mechanisms were hypothesized: (i) a cramped intrauterine environment given the short stature of some minority children's mothers resulted in catch-up growth; and (ii) conditions during the parents' childhood led to a reduced capacity to reach their height potential. A reparameterization of parent heights showed that mother's height contributed more to predicting child height than joint parental height alone. Birthweight was positively related to height and attenuated the extra contribution from mothers' heights. Decomposing the effects into their constituent parts found some support for both hypotheses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that children from ethnic minority backgrounds are not disadvantaged with respect to height growth compared with the ethnic majority. However, if adiposity is more likely when children are tall for their age, then ethnic inequalities in adult health could increase as the current generation of children mature.
authors: Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, Colchester, UK. asacker@essex.ac.uk
authors: Amanda
authors: A
authors: Sacker
authors: Yvonne J
authors: YJ
authors: Kelly
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000349:Africa / Q000208:ethnology; D001459:Bangladesh / Q000208:ethnology; D001724:Birth Weight; D044383:Black People; D001827:Body Height; D017691:Caribbean Region / Q000208:ethnology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005220:Fathers; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009035:Mothers; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People; D055815:Young Adult