The impact of war upon the pupils' growth in southern Croatia

In order to assess the influence of war calamities on the pupils' growth rate, the height, weight, and relative weight of children from Split at the time of entering two major elementary schools (age about 6.5 years) and some 10 months later, during the two pre-war years (i.e. 1988/1989 and 1989/1990) and the two years of the war against Croatia (i.e. 1990/1991 and 1991/1992) were compared. A notable increase in body weight, ranging from 12.24 to 14.50% (compared with 8.57-11.93%; t = 1.23, P > 0.05), but not in height was observed in the first, and a significant acceleration in the longitudinal growth (4.53-4.73% as compared with 3.38-4.24%; t = 4.01, P < 0.01) but not in weight gain was noted in the second war year. These unexpected findings lead to a conclusion that the war atrocities may affect the children's growth rate differently, depending on the amount and quality of the consumed food, on the level of energy expenditure, and possibly on the variable impact of emotional stress.