Introduction

Height is a good indicator about the development of a country because it reflects the social conditions in which population lives and its repercussion for the state of health. Objectives: To analyze the trend of high and low height according to age, sex, poverty and urban/rural life.

Material and Methods

A trend study that analyzed the high and low size in 50,921 children and adolescents during 2007 and 2013. The samples were representative and probabilistic of Peruvian households.

Results

In the 2007-2013 period, the percentage of high height was stable in the total of the population and in subgroup of population, while the low height percentage decrease in this period, from 25.4% (2007) to 18.8% (2013) (p<0.001). The different groups of age, sex, poverty and urban/rural life showed a high decrease from 21.2% to 12.9% in children between 5 to 9 years old (p <0.001). In the extreme poor group, height percentage decreased from 49.5% to 38.6% (p<0.001) and in the rural area from 40.1% a 31.4% (p<0.001). Moreover, the decrease in low height between women and men were very similar (around 4% of reduction).

Conclusions

The percentage of high height were very similar in the 2007-2013 period and the low height was decrease in the population, mainly in children from 5 to 9 years, extreme poor and rural area. It is necessary to maintain or improve the strategies carried out between this period of study to continue reducing the percentage of children with short height and thus improve their health.

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