Half-a-century of the "Körmend Growth Study"

The authors give a sketch about the "Körmend Growth Study" which is series of cross-sectional growth studies, carried out in Körmend, a small town in Western Hungary. The first investigation was carried out in 1958 (K-58) and it has been repeated every ten years (K-68, K-78, K-88, and K-98). All 3-18 year-old healthy boys and girls in nurseries and schools in Körmend were involved in the study. Twenty-three body measurements were taken. This paper focuses on changes in height, weight, and BMI. Means of these two body measurements show an increase from time to time (as a phenomenon of positive secular trend), however, the secular trend for increasing height and weight is declining. BMI follows a similar pattern.