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Month of birth and height. A case study in rural Spain

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dc.contributor.authorCandela Martínez, Begoña
dc.contributor.authorRamallo-Ros, Salvador
dc.contributor.authorCañabate, José
dc.contributor.authorMartínez Carrión, José Miguel
dc.contributor.departmentEconomía Aplicada
dc.contributor.otherFacultad de Economía y Empresa
dc.date.accessioned2026-01-20T12:56:07Z
dc.date.available2026-01-20T12:56:07Z
dc.date.copyright© 2022 The Author(s)
dc.date.issued2022-07-06
dc.description.abstractIntroduction: Season of birth correlates to a wide range of health conditions throughout life measured by anthropometrics. This study explores whether the month of birth and weather during gestation influence male adult height, based on Spain’s rural population before the end of the modernization process. Methods: The database of heights (N = 16.266) is composed of conscripts who reached the age of 21 between 1908 and 1985 (birth cohorts 1886–1965). The population sample has been taken from a municipality in inner Spain: Hellín, in the region of Castilla-La Mancha, mainly an agrarian area, with poor resources and low income until the 1970 s/1980 s. Two different methodologies have been implemented: a harmonic regression using sinusoidal covariables and a random forest model. Results: we find that being born at the end of the summer and during the autumn was favorable to height. The birth month with the highest statures is September, with heights 0.5 cm above the annual average and 0.9 cm above February, the birth month with the lowest average height. Furthermore, we can observe that rainfall and temperature during gestation had little additional influence due to a substitution effect with the birth month variable. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the seasonal effects on height can be significant and that it can be partially affected by environmental factors during early life. Our findings could be of interest for low-income populations and developing rural societies.
dc.formatapplication/pdf
dc.format.extent9
dc.identifier.citationEconomics and Human Biology 47 (2022) 101157
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2022.101157
dc.identifier.eissn1873-6130
dc.identifier.issn570-677X
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10201/189209
dc.languageeng
dc.publisherElsevier
dc.relationMinistry of Science, Innovation, and Universities (Government of Spain), Projects Grant HAR2016-76814-C2-2-P (MINECO/AEI/FEDER/UE); PID2020–113793 GB-I00 (MICIU/AEI/FEDER/UE); Network PHA-HIS. RED2018-102413-T, PID2020-113793 GB-I00, PID2019-107192GB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033.
dc.relation.publisherversionhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1570677X22000533?via%3Dihub
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International*
dc.rights.accessRightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/*
dc.subjectSeasonality
dc.subjectBirth month
dc.subjectClimate
dc.subjectHeight
dc.subject.odsNo relacionado con ningún objetivo de desarrollo sostenible
dc.titleMonth of birth and height. A case study in rural Spain
dc.typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.type.versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dspace.entity.typePublicationes
relation.isAuthorOfPublication18f12b7b-6eb0-481b-b336-f8bb4b0d6154
relation.isAuthorOfPublicationb0372eba-4cfd-4597-ba96-f0b0e5675b5e
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery18f12b7b-6eb0-481b-b336-f8bb4b0d6154
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