Social background, adult body-height and health

Study objective To study the socio-demographic determinants of body-height and the bearing of these determinants on the association between body-heigh t and health among Finnish adults. Data and Method Cross-sectional population survey including questions on so cial background, body-height and health, and retrospective questions on chi ldhood living conditions. The data derive from a representative Survey on L iving Conditions collected by Statistics Finland in 1994. The response rate was 73%. Male and female respondents greater than or equal to 20 years wer e included in the analysis (N = 8212). Statistical methods include regressi on analysis and logistic regression analysis. Results Body-height was strongly associated with year of birth, region, chi ldhood living conditions and education among adult men and women. Body-heig ht was also associated with limiting long-standing illness and perceived he alth as below good. Tall men had the best health and short men the poorest health. Among women the association of body-height with health differed fro m men, as tall women showed high levels of limiting long-standing illness, notably musculo-skeletal diseases. Adjusting for the background variables w eakened but did not abolish the association between poor health and short s tature among men and women. Conclusions Short stature is associated with poor health among Finnish men and women. A non-linear association among women was found for musculo-skele tal diseases. The studied social background factors explained only little o f the association between body-height and health.