title: Childhood stunting and mortality between 36 and 64 years: the British 1946 Birth Cohort Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Our aim was to examine the associations between childhood or adult height and adult mortality.
  
  
  METHODS
  In the prospective British 1946 Birth Cohort Study, childhood height was measured at 2, 4, 6, 7, 11, and 15 years, and adult height was measured at 36 years. Deaths were reported from the national health service register.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 3877 study members (1963 male) contributed 106,333 person-years of follow-up; 391 deaths (228 male) were reported between the ages of 36 and 64 years. The strongest sex-adjusted association between height and mortality between ages 36 and 64 years was seen for height at age 6 years. The association was nonlinear; only study members in the shortest quintile at 6 years had a higher relative risk of adult mortality compared with those in the tallest quintile. By contemporary growth standards, 5.7% (n = 188) had heights at 6 years less than the second percentile, and a further 15.0% (n = 490) had heights between the second to ninth percentiles; these groups had higher adult mortality than all other study members (hazard ratio, 2.18; 95% confidence interval, 1.52-3.13; P < .001; and hazard ratio, 1.42; 95% confidence interval, 1.08-1.88; P = .01, respectively). Several determinants of childhood stunting (height at 6 years less than the second percentile) were directly associated with adult mortality; these included shorter parental heights and adverse early life nutrition and housing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  British men and women born in 1946 were relatively stunted as children by contemporary standards. Those who were short at age 6 years had substantially higher mortality 30 to 60 years later. Furthermore, they accounted for the well-recognized inverse association between adult height and mortality.
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council Unit for Lifelong Health and Ageing, London WC1B 5JU, United Kingdom. ken.ong@mrc-epid.cam.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Ken K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Ong
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hardy
authors.forename: Imran
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kuh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging; D001827:Body Height; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006130:Growth Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D061213:Mortality, Premature; D010290:Parents; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology