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The Bogalusa Heart Study

David S. Freedman, PhD; Laura Kettel Khan, PhD; Mary K. Serdula, MD; Sathanur R. Srinivasan, PhD; Gerald S. Berenson, MD

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2000;154:155-161.

Objective  To examine trends in height among 5- to 17-year-old children between 1973 and 1992.

Design  A panel design consisting of 7 cross-sectional surveys.

Participants  All schoolchildren residing in Bogalusa, La, were eligible. A total of 24 070 examinations were performed.

Results  During the study period, the mean height of schoolchildren increased by 0.70 cm per decade independently of race, sex, and age. Trends were most pronounced among preadolescents, blacks, and boys, with 9- to 12-year-old black boys showing a height increase of 1.8 cm per decade. We observed a decrease in the number of relatively short children (<10th percentile of height) and an increase in the number of tall children (>90th percentile of height). Because a secular trend was not seen among the 15- to 17-year-old children, our findings likely reflect an acceleration of maturation.

Conclusions  It has generally been assumed that secular increases in height among schoolchildren in the United States ceased by the mid-1900s. Our findings, which may be due to various environmental factors, demonstrate that care must be taken when using nonconcurrent reference data to assess the growth of children. Additional study is needed to determine if these secular trends are continuing and to examine possible explanations and consequences of these trends.

From the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Ga (Drs Freedman, Khan, and Serdula); and the Tulane Center for Cardiovascular Health, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, La (Drs Srinivasan and Berenson).

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