Secular change in the growth and development of Han children in China

This paper reports the secular change in physical growth and development of Han children in 12 Chinese metropolitan cities including Beijing, Tianjing, Shanghai, Jinan, Harbin, Shenyang, Changchun, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Guangzhou, and Chengdu. Based on a recent national survey of 14,688 healthy schoolchildren, aged 7-18 years, and together using the historical records of healthy schoolchildren as secondary data source, this study found a secular change in the growth and development of Chinese children and youth. In every decade between the 1950s and 1985 the average height increased by 2.66 cm (range 1.78-3.77) for boys and 2.40 cm (range 1.72-3.76) for girls, and the average weight increased by 1.64 kg (range 1.28-2.63) for boys and 1.14 kg (range 0.63-2.01) for girls in the 12 cities. In the last decade from the 1970s to 1985, the height and weight increments were highest in Beijing, Jinan, Shenyang and Shanghai. In addition, the increments were higher during the peak growth years than during other periods of growth. In the 30 years studied, the ages of maximum growth velocity were advanced, and they were 1 or 2 years earlier in 1985 than in the 1950s in most cities. When compared with the data from the 1930s the results indicate that, during the last half-century, height increased by 1.12-2.66 cm per decade for boys and 1.42-2.67 cm/decade for girls, while weight increased by 0.56-1.27 for boys and 0.65-1.18 kg for girls in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hanzhou and Guangzhou.