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...conditions. generational increase in body height has been uniform, with the possible exceptions of two world wars, and it seems to be a worldwide phenomenon in both affluent and developing countries (Silventoinen 2003). In Europe mean body height has increased about 1 cm per decade during the 20th century (Cavelaars et al. 2000). This increase is similar across European countries, and the differences in mean body height have remained stable over birth cohorts. However, Silventoinen et al. (2001) noticed that the difference in mean body height between the Finnish and Swedish populations diminished in the cohorts born after World War II. The gross national product (GNP) in Finland, which was lower than GNP in Sweden before World War II, started to increase rapidly and eventually reached the level of Sweden. This upward secular trend is probably due to reduction of environmental stress and may reflect a general increase in affluence in the world. This hypothesis is supported by strong aggregate-level correlations between the increasing trends in body height and the increase in GNP (Steckel 1995). Furthermore, this increase in height is widely accepted to be partly due to improved nutrition (Hauspie et al. 1996).
Some have reported that shorter members of society are perceived to be less competent than taller individuals, both during childhood and during adulthood (Underwood 1991). Increasingly, children who represent the extremes of normal variation in growth and physical development, especially on the lower side, are referred to specialized clinics (Law 1987), demonstrating the concerns and problems experienced with short stature (Theunissen et al. 2002). However, short stature is a heterogeneous condition that can be difficult to diagnose. Nonetheless, a diagnosis can be important for prognosis and possible therapy.
To determine whether to intervene in a specific case of short stature, doctors need to consider the target height (the genetic potential in stature). The stature of children is influenced by parental height (Preece 1996; Mueller 1976; Kaur and Singh 1981). Genetic potential height, or target height, is usually determined as a function of parental height. The estimated target height is used extensively in pediatric clinics to manage children with growth disorders. The corrected midparental height (CMH) method computes the target height by adding or subtracting 6.5 cm to the mean of the parental heights for boys or girls, respectively. The method was introduced in the 1970s (Tanner et al. 1975), and it is commonly used in clinics in the evaluation of growth-promoting therapies in growth hormone (GH) deficient (Ranke et al. 1997) and non-GH-deficient (Loche et al. 1994, 2005; Bernasconi et al. 1997) children with short stature.
The CMH model has proven less than ideal for the last two or three decades. A new model has been proposed for estimating target height. This model is known as the final parental height (FPH) model, and it is based on a large population-based growth study of Swedish children (Luo et al. 1998). The FPH model is preferred for target height estimation in Swedish children because the traditional CMH method introduces an underestimation bias of about 6...
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