Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

The direct effect of exposure to disease in early life on the height of young adult men in southern Sweden, 1814–1948

Öberg, Stefan (2015) In Population Studies 69(2). p.179-199
Abstract

This paper considers whether short-term variation in exposure to disease early in life, as measured by a variety of mortality rates, has an effect on the height of young adults. Height information for men born in southern Sweden, 1814–1948, and included in the Scanian Economic Demographic Database (SEDD), was obtained from records of medical inspections carried out as part of Sweden’s system of universal conscription. Community-level infant mortality rates were calculated not only by year of birth but also for time in utero and in the first year of life. Comparison between brothers was used to remove the influence of confounding factors. The results suggest that any effect that exposure to disease in early life, as measured by mortality... (More)

This paper considers whether short-term variation in exposure to disease early in life, as measured by a variety of mortality rates, has an effect on the height of young adults. Height information for men born in southern Sweden, 1814–1948, and included in the Scanian Economic Demographic Database (SEDD), was obtained from records of medical inspections carried out as part of Sweden’s system of universal conscription. Community-level infant mortality rates were calculated not only by year of birth but also for time in utero and in the first year of life. Comparison between brothers was used to remove the influence of confounding factors. The results suggest that any effect that exposure to disease in early life, as measured by mortality rates, may have had on height, either through selection or scarring, is likely to have been very weak. Supplementary material for this article is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00324728.2015.1045545

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
disease, early life, height, infant mortality, mortality selection, scarring
in
Population Studies
volume
69
issue
2
pages
21 pages
publisher
Routledge
external identifiers
  • scopus:84940435186
  • pmid:26133946
ISSN
0032-4728
DOI
10.1080/00324728.2015.1045545
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2015 Population Investigation Committee.
id
4aeb89c3-a28b-43a2-8959-10c642b16d64
date added to LUP
2025-03-07 10:32:35
date last changed
2025-06-27 21:02:58
@article{4aeb89c3-a28b-43a2-8959-10c642b16d64,
  abstract     = {{<p>This paper considers whether short-term variation in exposure to disease early in life, as measured by a variety of mortality rates, has an effect on the height of young adults. Height information for men born in southern Sweden, 1814–1948, and included in the Scanian Economic Demographic Database (SEDD), was obtained from records of medical inspections carried out as part of Sweden’s system of universal conscription. Community-level infant mortality rates were calculated not only by year of birth but also for time in utero and in the first year of life. Comparison between brothers was used to remove the influence of confounding factors. The results suggest that any effect that exposure to disease in early life, as measured by mortality rates, may have had on height, either through selection or scarring, is likely to have been very weak. Supplementary material for this article is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00324728.2015.1045545</p>}},
  author       = {{Öberg, Stefan}},
  issn         = {{0032-4728}},
  keywords     = {{disease; early life; height; infant mortality; mortality selection; scarring}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{179--199}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  series       = {{Population Studies}},
  title        = {{The direct effect of exposure to disease in early life on the height of young adult men in southern Sweden, 1814–1948}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00324728.2015.1045545}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/00324728.2015.1045545}},
  volume       = {{69}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}