Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30328382›Full record

ArticleAnnals of human biology2018

Birth seasons and heights among girls and boys below 12 years of age: lasting effects and catch-up growth among native Amazonians in Bolivia.

Marek Brabec, Jere R Behrman, Susan D Emmett, Edward Gibson, Celeste Kidd, William Leonard, Mary E Penny, Steven T Piantadosi, Abhishek Sharma, Susan Tanner and 2 more

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Article in Annals of human biology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Longitudinal Growth Patterns in Boys and Girls Aged 9-14 Years by Birth Season.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2026
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Marek Brabeca Institute of Computer Science of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Department of Biostatistics and Informatics , National Institute of Public Health , Prague , Czech Republic.
Jere R Behrmanb Department of Economics and Population Studies Center , University of Pennsylvania , Philadelphia , PA , USA.
Susan D Emmettc Department of Surgery, Division of Head and Neck Surgery & Communication Sciences , Duke University School of Medicine and Duke Global Health Institute , Durham , NC , USA.
Edward Gibsond Department of Psychology , University of California , Berkeley , Berkeley, CA , USA.
Celeste Kidde Department of Psychology , , University of California , Berkeley, Berkeley , CA , USA.
William Leonardf Department of Anthropology , Northwestern University , Evanston , IL , USA.
Mary E Pennyg Instituto de Investigación Nutricional , Lima , Peru.
Steven T Piantadosie Department of Psychology , , University of California , Berkeley, Berkeley , CA , USA.
Abhishek Sharmah Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital , Brisbane , Australia.
Susan Tanneri Anthropology , University of Georgia , Athens , GA , USA.
Eduardo A Undurragaj Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Escuela de Gobierno , Santiago , Chile.
Ricardo A Godoyk Heller School for Social Policy and Management , Brandeis University , Waltham , MA , USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSeasons affect many social, economic, and biological outcomes, particularly in low-resource settings, and some studies suggest that birth season affects child growth.

aimTo study a predictor of stunting that has received limited attention: birth season. SUBJECTS AND

methodsThis study uses cross-sectional data collected during 2008 in a low-resource society of horticulturists-foragers in the Bolivian Amazon, Tsimane'. It estimates the associations between birth months and height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ) for 562 girls and 546 boys separately, from birth until age 11 years or pre-puberty, which in this society occurs ∼13-14 years.

resultsChildren born during the rainy season (February-May) were shorter, while children born during the end of the dry season and the start of the rainy season (August-November) were taller, both compared with their age-sex peers born during the rest of the year. The correlations of birth season with HAZ were stronger for boys than for girls. Controlling for birth season, there is some evidence of eventual partial catch-up growth, with the HAZ of girls or boys worsening until ∼ age 4-5 years, but improving thereafter. By age 6 years, many girls and boys had ceased to be stunted, irrespective of birth season.

conclusionThe results suggest that redressing stunting will require attention to conditions in utero, infancy and late childhood.

Indexed as

Body HeightChild DevelopmentBoliviaChildChild, PreschoolCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleGrowth DisordersHumansIndians, South AmericanInfantInfant, NewbornMaleParturitionPubertySeasonsbirth monthgeneralised additive modelsex differencesstuntingTsimane'

Identifiers

PMID30328382
PMCPMC6191890

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.