IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ehbiol/v9y2011i1p106-117.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Waaler revisited: The anthropometrics of mortality

Author

Listed:
  • Koch, Daniel

Abstract

Although many studies have been written about the relationship between BMI and human height on the one hand and mortality on the other, the issue of socio-economic status as confounding variable has been at times less emphasized. This study analyzes the influence of education and income on the relationship between BMI and mortality and between height and mortality. It is based on data collected between 1963 and 1975 by the Norwegian National Health Screening Service. 1.7 million subjects were recorded. The Norwegian statistics bureau linked these data to the national death records and to socio-economic information. We apply Cox proportional hazards regressions in order to determine whether adding income and education as covariates affects the relations among BMI, height, and mortality. Previous findings and insights are either not present or ambiguous. We conclude that the omission of SES does not significantly bias the effect of BMI on most causes of death, with one exception: type 2 diabetes mellitus, where the effect of BMI is substantially lower for both adults and adolescents when adjusted for education.

Suggested Citation

  • Koch, Daniel, 2011. "Waaler revisited: The anthropometrics of mortality," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 106-117, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:9:y:2011:i:1:p:106-117
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570-677X(10)00024-9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Komlos, 1993. "The secular trend in the biological standard of living in the United Kingdom, 1730-1860," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 46(1), pages 115-144, February.
    2. David M. Cutler & Adriana Lleras-Muney & Tom Vogl, 2008. "Socioeconomic Status and Health: Dimensions and Mechanisms," NBER Working Papers 14333, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Wilkinson, Richard G & Pickett, Kate E., 2006. "Income inequality and population health: A review and explanation of the evidence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(7), pages 1768-1784, April.
    4. Komlos, John & Baur, Marieluise, 2004. "From the tallest to (one of) the fattest: the enigmatic fate of the American population in the 20th century," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 57-74, March.
    5. Sunder, Marco, 2003. "The making of giants in a welfare state: the Norwegian experience in the 20th century," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 267-276, June.
    6. Batty, G. David & Shipley, Martin J. & Gunnell, David & Huxley, Rachel & Kivimaki, Mika & Woodward, Mark & Lee, Crystal Man Ying & Smith, George Davey, 2009. "Height, wealth, and health: An overview with new data from three longitudinal studies," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 137-152, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Do, D. Phuong & Watkins, Daphne C. & Hiermeyer, Martin & Finch, Brian K., 2013. "The relationship between height and neighborhood context across racial/ethnic groups: A multi-level analysis of the 1999–2004 U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 30-41.
    2. Komlos, John & Lauderdale, Benjamin E., 2006. "Underperformance in affluence: the remarkable relative decline in American heights in the second half of the 20th-century," Discussion Papers in Economics 1241, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    3. Howard Bodenhorn & Carolyn Moehling & Gregory N. Price, 2012. "Short Criminals: Stature and Crime in Early America," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 55(2), pages 393-419.
    4. Joan Costa-i-Font & Lucia Kossarova, 2014. "Anthropometric Dividends of Czechoslovakia's Break Up," CESifo Working Paper Series 5081, CESifo.
    5. Steckel, Richard H., 2009. "Heights and human welfare: Recent developments and new directions," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 1-23, January.
    6. Scott Carson, 2012. "Nineteenth century stature and family size: binding constraint or productive labor force?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 39-52, March.
    7. McEvoy, Brian P. & Visscher, Peter M., 2009. "Genetics of human height," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 294-306, December.
    8. Cheng, Lingguo & Liu, Hong & Zhang, Ye & Zhao, Zhong, 2018. "The health implications of social pensions: Evidence from China's new rural pension scheme," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 53-77.
    9. Hiermeyer, Martin, 2008. "The trade-off between a high and an equal biological standard of living--Evidence from Germany," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 431-445, December.
    10. Finch, Brian Karl & Beck, Audrey N., 2011. "Socio-economic status and z-score standardized height-for-age of U.S.-born children (ages 2-6)," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 272-276, July.
    11. Costa-Font, Joan & Gil, Joan, 2008. "Generational effects and gender height dimorphism in contemporary Spain," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 1-18, March.
    12. Zeng, Wu & Eisenberg, Dan T.A. & Jovel, Karla Rubio & Undurraga, Eduardo A. & Nyberg, Colleen & Tanner, Susan & Reyes-García, Victoria & Leonard, William R. & Castaño, Juliana & Huanca, Tomás & McDade, 2013. "Adult obesity: Panel study from native Amazonians," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 227-235.
    13. Hruschka, Daniel J. & Hackman, Joseph V. & Stulp, Gert, 2019. "Identifying the limits to socioeconomic influences on human growth," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 239-251.
    14. Kues, Arne Benjamin, 2010. "Taller - Healthier - more equal? The biological standard of living in Switzerland in the second half of the 20th century," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 67-79, March.
    15. Heineck, Guido, 2006. "Height and weight in Germany, evidence from the German Socio-Economic Panel, 2002," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 359-382, December.
    16. Komlos, John & Cinnirella, Francesco, 2005. "European Heights in the Early 18th Century," Discussion Papers in Economics 572, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    17. Spijker, Jeroen J.A. & Cámara, Antonio D. & Blanes, Amand, 2012. "The health transition and biological living standards: Adult height and mortality in 20th-century Spain," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 276-288.
    18. Joan Costa-i-Font & Lucia Kossarova, 2015. "Anthropometric Dividends of Czechoslovakia’s Break Up," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 95, European Institute, LSE.
    19. Costa-Font, Joan & Kossarova, Lucia, 2014. "Anthropometric dividends of Czechoslovakia’s break up," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60719, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Grasgruber, P. & Cacek, J. & Kalina, T. & Sebera, M., 2014. "The role of nutrition and genetics as key determinants of the positive height trend," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 15(C), pages 81-100.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:9:y:2011:i:1:p:106-117. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622964 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.