ArticleLancet (London, England)2020
Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories: a pooled analysis of 2181 population-based studies with 65 million participants.
Article in Lancet (London, England), 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 196 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
196 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Temporal Trends in Health-Related Components of Physical Fitness of European Children and Adolescents from 1965 to 2025: A Systematic Review of Data on 417,362 Participants from 20 Countries.Sports medicine - open · 2026Pooled it
- [Research Advancements in Gastric Capacity Intervention for Childhood and Adolescent Obesity].Sichuan da xue xue bao. Yi xue ban = Journal of Sichuan University. Medical science edition · 2025Pooled it
- Weight-neutral interventions in young people with high body mass index: A systematic review.Nutrition & dietetics : the journal of the Dietitians Association of Australia · 2023Pooled it
- Physical Activity and Body Image Perception in Adolescents: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Longitudinal Evaluation of Bone Safety in Children and Adolescents With HIV-1 Starting Tenofovir Alafenamide-Containing Antiretroviral Therapy.Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society · 2025Trial
- Mechanisms and outcomes of a very low intensity intervention to improve parental acknowledgement and understanding of childhood overweight/obesity, embedded in the National Child Measurement Programme: A sub-study within a large cluster Randomized Controlled Trial (MapMe2).British journal of health psychology · 2025Trial
- The effect of Baduanjin exercise on health-related physical fitness of college students: A randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in public health · 2022Trial
- Longitudinal assessments of child growth: A six-year follow-up of a cluster-randomized maternal education trial.Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland) · 2021Trial
- Discriminatory Capacity of Anthropometric Indicators and Physical Fitness Tests for Identifying Waist-to-Height Ratio-Defined Cardiometabolic Risk in Adolescents According to Sex and Biological Maturity.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Exploration of factors mediating the effect of socioeconomic deprivation on rates of childhood stunting in Sefton: an ecological analysis.Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Secular Trends in Height and Changes in Anthropometric Measures Among Adult Women in Nuñoa, Peru 1964-2018.American journal of biological anthropology · 2026Article
- Secular trends and ethnic disparities in age at menarche among ethnic minority girls in China: a 35-year nationwide repeated cross-sectional study from 1985 to 2019.Journal of global health · 2026Article
- Dynamic interplay between food addiction, psychological and behavioral factors, and weight-related measures: A longitudinal network analysis in developing youth.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2026Article
- Global Data From Great Ape Zoo Populations Confirm a High Prevalence of Overweight Individuals.American journal of primatology · 2026Article
- Global patterns and trends in kidney cancer incidence and mortality.International journal of cancer · 2026Article
- Longitudinal Height Growth Patterns Among Children Receiving Menaquinone-7 Supplementation.Nutrients · 2026Observational
- Dystocia and analgesia: which came first? Time of choice of neuraxial labor analgesia and obstetric outcomes: a community-based retrospective cohort study.Journal of anesthesia, analgesia and critical care · 2026Article
- Article
- Multivariate Trajectories of Eating Disorder Symptoms and Weight Status in 10- to 17-Year-Old Children and Adolescents.The International journal of eating disorders · 2026Article
136 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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1 author.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundComparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents.
methodsFor this pooled analysis, we used a database of cardiometabolic risk factors collated by the Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends from 1985 to 2019 in mean height and mean BMI in 1-year age groups for ages 5-19 years. The model allowed for non-linear changes over time in mean height and mean BMI and for non-linear changes with age of children and adolescents, including periods of rapid growth during adolescence.
findingsWe pooled data from 2181 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in 65 million participants in 200 countries and territories. In 2019, we estimated a difference of 20 cm or higher in mean height of 19-year-old adolescents between countries with the tallest populations (the Netherlands, Montenegro, Estonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina for boys; and the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark, and Iceland for girls) and those with the shortest populations (Timor-Leste, Laos, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea for boys; and Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Timor-Leste for girls). In the same year, the difference between the highest mean BMI (in Pacific island countries, Kuwait, Bahrain, The Bahamas, Chile, the USA, and New Zealand for both boys and girls and in South Africa for girls) and lowest mean BMI (in India, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Ethiopia, and Chad for boys and girls; and in Japan and Romania for girls) was approximately 9-10 kg/m
interpretationThe height and BMI trajectories over age and time of school-aged children and adolescents are highly variable across countries, which indicates heterogeneous nutritional quality and lifelong health advantages and risks.
fundingWellcome Trust, AstraZeneca Young Health Programme, EU.
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