The association between obesity and height in adolescents

Background
The prevalence of childhood obesity is increasing worldwide and can affect their linear growth through various mechanisms.

Objectives
We aimed to investigate the association between obesity-related traits and height in adolescents.

Material and methods
This was a categorized cross-sectional study carried out on 186 students (93 case and 93 control) 15 to 18 years of age who were randomly selected from three schools in Shiraz, Iran. Anthropometric indices including height, weight, body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage (BF) and body muscle percentage (BM) were measured. Statistical analysis was done by SPSS software (Version 16). A significance level was considered as being less than 0.05.

Results
We found an inverse association for waist circumference (WC) and fat mass with height. In addition, there was a direct relationship between fat-free mass and trunk fat with height. The mean height of participants in the obesity group was significantly lower than the control group (p = 0.04). Participants in the obesity group had significant higher FM percentage (p < 0.001) and WC (p < 0.001) than the control group. There was a significant correlation between height and WC (p = 0.003), as well as between height and fat percentage (p < 0.001). We also found a direct relationship between fast-free mass and height (p < 0.001), as well as between trunk fat percentage and height (p = 0.026). We have suggested an equation to estimate adolescents’ height based on the anthropometric indices.

Conclusions
Adiposity, especially central adiposity, is adversely associated with height. However, muscle percentage might reinforce linear growth. Further studies are warranted to confirm this finding.