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Height depends on month of birth

Author

Listed:
  • Gerhard W. Weber

    (Institute of Human Biology, University of Vienna Althanstrasse 14)

  • Hermann Prossinger

    (Institute of Human Biology, University of Vienna Althanstrasse 14)

  • Horst Seidler

    (Institute of Human Biology, University of Vienna Althanstrasse 14)

Abstract

Using a large human male population of 507,125, we find clear evidence for a dependence of body height at age 18 on birth month. Over 10 years there is a sinusoidal variation with a period of 1.0 year with maxima in spring and minima in autumn differing by 0.6 cm. Although global environmental factors1 are small and can be studied only with the help of sophisticated methods on very large sample sizes, they might offer insights into still undiscovered mechanisms of human development. This may provide empirical facts for clinical research on the pineal gland and melatonin2.

Suggested Citation

  • Gerhard W. Weber & Hermann Prossinger & Horst Seidler, 1998. "Height depends on month of birth," Nature, Nature, vol. 391(6669), pages 754-755, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:391:y:1998:i:6669:d:10.1038_35781
    DOI: 10.1038/35781
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    Cited by:

    1. Pushkar Maitra & Nidhiya Menon & Chau Tran, 2019. "The Winter’s Tale: Season of Birth Impacts on Children in China," Monash Economics Working Papers 09-18, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    2. Nikolov, Plamen & Jimi, Nusrat & Chang, Jerray, 2020. "The Importance of Cognitive Domains and the Returns to Schooling in South Africa: Evidence from Two Labor Surveys," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    3. Karimi, Seyed M. & Basu, Anirban, 2018. "The effect of prenatal exposure to Ramadan on children’s height," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 69-83.
    4. Youwei Wang & Yuxin Chen & Yi Qian, 2018. "The Causal Link between Relative Age Effect and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from 17 Million Users across 49 Years on Taobao," NBER Working Papers 25318, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Fangliang Lei & Shanshan Li & Baibing Mi & Danmeng Liu & Jiaomei Yang & Pengfei Qu & Ruo Zhang & Xiaofeng Zhang & Jia Ying & Shaonong Dang & Hong Yan, 2017. "Association between birth season and physical development in children under 3 years old residing in low-income counties in western China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(11), pages 1-11, November.
    6. Candela-Martínez, Begoña & Ramallo-Ros, Salvador & Cañabate, José & Martínez-Carrión, José-Miguel, 2022. "Month of birth and height. A case study in rural Spain," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).

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