Person—height

Public health and health care:

Stature is a major indicator of general body size and of bone length and of nutritional and health status of the individual and the community at large. It is important in screening for disease or malnutrition, and in the interpretation of weight (Lohman et al. 1988). Shortness is known to be a predictor of all cause mortality and coronary heart disease mortality in middle aged men (Marmot et al. 1984) and of less favourable gestational outcomes in women (Kramer 1988). Self-reported or parentally reported height for children and adolescents should be used cautiously if at all. It enables the calculation of body mass index which requires the measurement of height and weight (body mass) for adults.