ArticleAmerican journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council
Physical growth of the shuar: Height, Weight, and BMI references for an indigenous amazonian population.
Article in American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed.
- Trial
- Tradeoffs between immune function and childhood growth among Amazonian forager-horticulturalists.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2018Trial
- Need for longitudinal evidence on child and adolescent nutrition in the Amazon.Public health nutrition · 2026Article
- Navigating Practical, Political, and Ethical Challenges of Long-Term Human Biology Field Research: The Shuar Health and Life History Project.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2026Article
- Impaired Intestinal Function Among Indigenous Shuar Children of Amazonian Ecuador: Evidence From Lactulose:Mannitol Tests of Absorption and Permeability.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2026Article
- The Shuar Health and Life History Project: Overview at 20 Years and Introduction to the Special Issue.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2026Article
- Amazonian Shuar testosterone levels are related to parasite infection: immunocompetence handicap hypothesis implications.Evolution, medicine, and public health · 2026Article
- Circulating Epstein-Barr Virus Antibody Levels as a Biomarker of Socioecological Adversity in Amazonian Ecuador.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2025Article
- Coming of age in war: Early life adversity, age at menarche, and mental health.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2024Review
- MULT: An allometric body mass index (ABMI) reference to assess nutritional status of multiethnic children and adolescents.PloS one · 2024Article
- Early childhood growth in Daasanach pastoralists of Northern Kenya: Distinct patterns of faltering in linear growth and weight gain.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2023Article
- Minimally invasive biomarkers in human and non-human primate evolutionary biology: Tools for understanding variation and adaptation.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2022Article
- Modeling variation in the growth of wild and captive juvenile vervet monkeys in relation to diet and resource availability.American journal of physical anthropology · 2020Article
- Market integration and soil-transmitted helminth infection among the Shuar of Amazonian Ecuador.PloS one · 2020Article
- Constraint and trade-offs regulate energy expenditure during childhood.Science advances · 2019Article
- Article
- Influence of Maternal Fish Intake on the Anthropometric Indices of Children in the Western Amazon.Nutrients · 2018Article
- Article
- Growth references for Tsimane forager-horticulturalists of the Bolivian Amazon.American journal of physical anthropology · 2017Article
- Regional variation in Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura infections by age cohort and sex: effects of market integration among the indigenous Shuar of Amazonian Ecuador.Journal of physiological anthropology · 2016Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesInformation concerning physical growth among small-scale populations remains limited, yet such data are critical to local health efforts and to foster basic understandings of human life history and variation in childhood development. Using a large dataset and robust modeling methods, this study aims to describe growth from birth to adulthood among the indigenous Shuar of Amazonian Ecuador.
methodsMixed-longitudinal measures of height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) were collected from Shuar participants (n = 2,463; age: 0-29 years). Centile growth curves and tables were created for each anthropometric variable of interest using Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale, and Shape (GAMLSS). Pseudo-velocity and Lambda-Mu-Sigma curves were generated to further investigate Shuar patterns of growth and to facilitate comparison with United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention and multinational World Health Organization growth references.
resultsThe Shuar are small throughout life and exhibit complex patterns of growth that differ substantially from those of international references. Similar to other Amazonians, Shuar growth in weight compares more favorably to references than growth in height, resulting in BMI curves that approximate international medians. Several additional characteristics of Shuar development are noteworthy, including large observed variation in body size early in life, significant infant growth faltering, extended male growth into adulthood, and a markedly early female pubertal growth spurt in height. Phenotypic plasticity and genetic selection in response to local environmental factors may explain many of these patterns.
conclusionsProviding a detailed reference of growth for the Shuar and other Amazonian populations, this study possesses direct clinical application and affords valuable insight into childhood health and the ecology of human growth.
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