Estimation of maximum increment age in height and weight during adolescence and the effect of World War II

An attempt was made to estimate the maximum increment age (MIA) in height and weight of Japanese boys and girls during the birth years 1893-1990 through the published data of the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture in Japan. In cases where the same maximum annual increment occurred in two or three successive age classes in a birth year cohort, a new formula (see Eq. 2) was developed to estimate the MIA. The existing formula for estimating MIA was modified to remove the mathematical deficiency (Eq. 1). Estimated MIA shows an overall declining trend, except in birth year cohorts 1934-1951. The effect of World War II on MIA was investigated by a dummy variable regression model. On average, during the birth years 1934-1951, MIA in height decelerated by 1.35 years in boys and 0.54 year in girls, while MIA in weight decelerated by 0.95 year in boys and 0.78 year in girls. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 12:363-370, 2000. Copyright 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.