The Relation between Early Life Mortality (1875-1893) and Height (1890-1913) in Dutch Provinces.

Vincent Tassenaar, University of Groningen
Björn Quanjer, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
Marlies Zaadnoordijk, University of Groningen

In this paper we test whether underlying living conditions caused a difference in the correlation between mortality and heights of conscripts in the Dutch provinces of Fryslân, Noord-Holland, Overijssel and Noord-Brabant. Therefore, we test five hypotheses: Height and (infant/child) mortality are both proxies of the underlying living conditions and should therefore show a strong correlation (also with nutrition); Rising mortality rates in the south coincide with the relative slow rise of height in that region; Declining (infant/child) mortality rates coincide with the rapid increase of height in urban areas; Water and foodborne diseases (as a proxy of bad food and sanitation) causing high mortality effect height in a stronger fashion (because they reflect the conditions for a longer time period) than infectious diseases (which only have an impact for a shorter time and from which it is easier to catch-up); Effects of Infant and child mortality can be mitigated or extended by local availability (access) to nutrition. To test these hypotheses we construct a model with infant and child mortality, SES (occupation), local availability of dairy products (number of cows per capita), parental loss and region of birth as independent variables and individual height as dependent variable.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 255. Heights and health in 19th and 20th centuries