TY - JOUR
T1 - Diminishing benefits of urban living for children and adolescents’ growth and development
AU - Mishra, Anu
AU - Zhou, Bin
AU - Rodriguez-Martinez, Andrea
AU - Bixby, Honor
AU - Singleton, Rosie K.
AU - Carrillo-Larco, Rodrigo M.
AU - Sheffer, Kate E.
AU - Paciorek, Christopher J.
AU - Bennett, James E.
AU - Lhoste, Victor
AU - Iurilli, Maria L.C.
AU - Di Cesare, Mariachiara
AU - Baker, Jennifer Lyn
AU - Afzal, Shoaib
AU - Allin, Kristine
AU - Andersen, Lars Bo
AU - Ängquist, Lars
AU - Jørgensen, Maja Bæksgaard
AU - Bjerregaard, Peter
AU - Bojesen, Stig Egil
AU - Christensen, Kaare
AU - Damsgaard, Camilla Trab
AU - Dantoft, Thomas M
AU - Eliasen, Marie
AU - Eriksen, Louise
AU - Halkjær, Jytte
AU - Giwercman, Aleksander
AU - Jørgensen, Torben
AU - Kristensen, Peter Lund
AU - Lind, Lars
AU - Linneberg, Allan
AU - Liu, Jing
AU - Madsen, Anja Lykke
AU - Michaelsen, Kim F.
AU - Møllehave, Line Tang
AU - Mortensen, Erik Lykke
AU - Nordestgaard, Børge
AU - Osler, Merete
AU - Overvad, Kim
AU - Schmidt, Ida Maria
AU - Schnohr, Peter
AU - Schramm, Stine
AU - Sobngwi, Eugène
AU - Sodemann, Morten
AU - Sørensen, Thorkild I.A.
AU - Tjønneland, Anne
AU - Tolstrup, Janne S
AU - Wang, Qian
AU - Yang, Yang
AU - NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Optimal growth and development in childhood and adolescence is crucial for lifelong health and well-being1–6. Here we used data from 2,325 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight from 71 million participants, to report the height and body-mass index (BMI) of children and adolescents aged 5–19 years on the basis of rural and urban place of residence in 200 countries and territories from 1990 to 2020. In 1990, children and adolescents residing in cities were taller than their rural counterparts in all but a few high-income countries. By 2020, the urban height advantage became smaller in most countries, and in many high-income western countries it reversed into a small urban-based disadvantage. The exception was for boys in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in some countries in Oceania, south Asia and the region of central Asia, Middle East and north Africa. In these countries, successive cohorts of boys from rural places either did not gain height or possibly became shorter, and hence fell further behind their urban peers. The difference between the age-standardized mean BMI of children in urban and rural areas was <1.1 kg m–2 in the vast majority of countries. Within this small range, BMI increased slightly more in cities than in rural areas, except in south Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and some countries in central and eastern Europe. Our results show that in much of the world, the growth and developmental advantages of living in cities have diminished in the twenty-first century, whereas in much of sub-Saharan Africa they have amplified.
AB - Optimal growth and development in childhood and adolescence is crucial for lifelong health and well-being1–6. Here we used data from 2,325 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight from 71 million participants, to report the height and body-mass index (BMI) of children and adolescents aged 5–19 years on the basis of rural and urban place of residence in 200 countries and territories from 1990 to 2020. In 1990, children and adolescents residing in cities were taller than their rural counterparts in all but a few high-income countries. By 2020, the urban height advantage became smaller in most countries, and in many high-income western countries it reversed into a small urban-based disadvantage. The exception was for boys in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in some countries in Oceania, south Asia and the region of central Asia, Middle East and north Africa. In these countries, successive cohorts of boys from rural places either did not gain height or possibly became shorter, and hence fell further behind their urban peers. The difference between the age-standardized mean BMI of children in urban and rural areas was <1.1 kg m–2 in the vast majority of countries. Within this small range, BMI increased slightly more in cities than in rural areas, except in south Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and some countries in central and eastern Europe. Our results show that in much of the world, the growth and developmental advantages of living in cities have diminished in the twenty-first century, whereas in much of sub-Saharan Africa they have amplified.
KW - Faculty of Science
KW - Children
KW - Adolescents
KW - Urban living
KW - Health
KW - Well-being
KW - Growth
KW - Development
U2 - 10.1038/s41586-023-05772-8
DO - 10.1038/s41586-023-05772-8
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 36991188
AN - SCOPUS:85151221457
VL - 615
SP - 874
EP - 883
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
SN - 0028-0836
IS - 7954
ER -