title: Understanding the impact of statural height on health-related quality of life in German adolescents: a population-based analysis.
abstract: Improving health-related quality of life (HrQoL) is one aim of growth hormone treatment for short-statured patients. Yet, evidence of the relationship between height and HrQoL is inconclusive, especially for young people. This study investigates the association of height and HrQoL in the general German adolescent population. A total of 6646 adolescents and 6388 parents from the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KIGGS) were included in the analysis. An analysis of covariance was used to evaluate the effect of height deviation on HrQoL as assessed with the KINDL-R in adolescent self-report and parent-report, taking into account sociodemographic and health-related variables. Height was found to be a weak predictor of HrQoL in both adolescent-report and parent-report. Short and tall adolescents did not substantially differ from the normal statured. Sociodemographic and health-related variables failed to significantly interact with height. In contrast, psychosocial variables contributed to the explained HrQoL variance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Height does not appear to be a strong determinant of HrQoL on the population level. These results suggest that the height gain in short stature treatment may not be the most important objective. Contrary to prevalent stereotypes, short adolescents can experience a high HrQoL.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Psychology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistraße 52, W26, 20246, Hamburg, Germany, r.sommer@uke.de.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sommer
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Daubmann
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Quitmann
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ravens-Sieberer
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bullinger
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001827:Body Height; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D011788:Quality of Life; D057566:Self Report