Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The STEP trials

A round-up of the STEP phase 3 clinical trials evaluating semaglutide for weight loss in people with overweight or obesity.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
International Journal for Equity in Health
Published in: International Journal for Equity in Health 1/2019

Open Access 01-12-2019 | Obesity | Research

Short relative leg length is associated with overweight and obesity in Mexican immigrant women

Authors: Mireya Vilar-Compte, James Macinko, Beth C. Weitzman, Carlos M. Avendaño-Villela

Published in: International Journal for Equity in Health | Issue 1/2019

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Prior research suggests that undernutrition and enteric infections predispose children to stunted growth. Undernutrition and infections have been associated with limited access to healthy diets, lack of sanitation, and access barriers to healthcare – all associated with human rights. Stunting has also been documented to be a major determinant of subsequent obesity and non-communicable diseases. Short leg length relative to stature during adulthood seems to be a good proxy indicator tracking such barriers, and has been reported to be associated with adverse health effects during adulthood. Our objective was to examine the association between relative leg length (as measured by the leg length index, LLI) and measures of adiposity – based on body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) – in a population of recent Mexican immigrant women to the New York City Area.

Methods

The analysis was based on a cross-sectional survey of 200 Mexican immigrant women aged 18 to 70 years, whose data were collected between April and November 2008; although for purposes of the current study we restricted the sample to those aged 18 to 59 years. The dependent variables were BMI and WC, both transformed into categorical variables. The main independent variable was LLI, and other correlates were controlled for (i.e. age, education, having had children, characteristics of the community of origin, acculturation, chronic conditions, sedentary behaviors, access to fresh fruits and vegetables). Two probit models were estimated: the first one analyzed the effect of LLI on BMI categories and the second one estimated the effect of LLI on WC.

Results

The probit assessing the effect of LLI on overweight/obesity suggested that having a short LLI increased the probability of overweight/obesity by 21 percentage points. Results from the probit model estimating the effect of LLI on WC indicated that having a short LLI increased the probability of having abdominal adiposity by 39 percentage points. Both results were statistically significant at p < 0.05.

Conclusion

The study found an association between having shorter legs relative to one’s height and increased risk of overweight/obesity and abdominal adiposity. Findings support the epidemiological evidence regarding the association between short leg length, early life socioeconomic conditions (i.e. limited access to basic rights), and increased risk of adverse health effects later in life.
Appendix
Available only for authorised users
Footnotes
1
Refers to leg length, relative to an adult’s stature. Relative leg length is usually operationalized by the leg length index (LLI).
 
2
Approximately 60–80% of all Mexican New Yorkers at the time of the study had recently migrated (i.e. on average, 11 years earlier) from around 20 common localites in Puebla, Mexico, in the early years of the twenty-first century. Such clustered migratory processes (both at the state of Puebla and within Puebla) provides a very specific phenomenon that reduces bias that might be introduced by unmeasured genetic, geographic or cultural influences often present in studies that group immigrants from different regions [40, 41].
 
3
An additional multinomial probit model in which overweight and obesity categories was implemented. Results were similar to those of the probit model in which overweight and obesity categories were collapsed (please refer to the Additional file 1: Table S1B section.)
 
Literature
1.
Black MM, Dewey KG. Promoting equity through integrated early child development and nutrition interventions. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2014;1308(1):1–10.PubMedCrossRef
2.
Black RE, Victora CG, Walker SP, Bhutta ZA, Christian P, De Onis M, et al. Maternal and child undernutrition and overweight in low-income and middle-income countries. Lancet. 2013;382(9890):427–51.CrossRef
3.
Guerrant RL, DeBoer MD, Moore SR, Scharf RJ, Lima AA. The impoverished gut—a triple burden of diarrhoea, stunting and chronic disease. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2013;10(4):220.PubMedCrossRef
4.
5.
6.
Li L, Dangour AD, Power C. Early life influences on adult leg and trunk length in the 1958 British birth cohort. Am J Hum Biol. 2007;19(6):836–43.PubMedCrossRef
7.
Asao K, Kao WL, Baptiste-Roberts K, Bandeen-Roche K, Erlinger TP, Brancati FL. Short stature and the risk of adiposity, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes in middle age the third National Health and nutrition examination survey (NHANES III), 1988–1994. Diabetes Care. 2006;29(7):1632–7.PubMedCrossRef
8.
Frisancho AR. Relative leg length as a biological marker to trace the developmental history of individuals and populations: growth delay and increased body fat. Am J Hum Biol. 2007;19(5):703–10.PubMedCrossRef
9.
Smith GD, Greenwood R, Gunnell D, Sweetnam P, Yarnell J, Elwood P. Leg length, insulin resistance, and coronary heart disease risk: the Caerphilly study. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2001;55(12):867–72.PubMedCrossRef
10.
Wadsworth M, Hardy R, Paul A, Marshall S, Cole T. Leg and trunk length at 43 years in relation to childhood health, diet and family circumstances; evidence from the 1946 national birth cohort. Int J Epidemiol. 2002;31(2):383–90.PubMedCrossRef
11.
Gunnell DJ, Smith GD, Frankel S, Nanchahal K, Braddon F, Pemberton J, et al. Childhood leg length and adult mortality: follow up of the Carnegie (Boyd Orr) survey of diet and health in pre-war Britain. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1998;52(3):142–52.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRef
12.
Varela-Silva MI, Frisancho AR, Bogin B, Chatkoff D, Smith P K, Dickinson F, et al. Behavioral, environmental, metabolic and intergenerational components of early life undernutrition leading to later obesity in developing nations and in minority groups in the USA. Coll Antropol. 2007;31(1):39–46.PubMed
13.
Bogin B, Varela-Silva MI. Fatness biases the use of estimated leg length as an epidemiological marker for adults in the NHANES III sample. Int J Epidemiol. 2008;37(1):201–9.PubMedCrossRef
14.
Varela-Silva MI, Azcorra H, Dickinson F, Bogin B, Frisancho A. Influence of maternal stature, pregnancy age, and infant birth weight on growth during childhood in Yucatan, Mexico: a test of the intergenerational effects hypothesis. Am J Hum Biol. 2009;21(5):657–63.PubMedCrossRef
15.
16.
Fryar C, Carroll M, Ogden C. Prevalence of overweight, obesity, and severe obesity. Among adults aged 20 and over: United States, 1960–1962. Through 2015–2016. 2018.
17.
Gutierrez-Robledo LM, Avila-Funes JA. How to include the social factor for determining frailty? J Frailty Aging. 2012;1:2012.
18.
de la Cruz-Góngora V, Villalpando S, Mundo-Rosas V, Shamah-Levy T. Prevalencia de anemia en niños y adolescentes mexicanos: comparativo de tres encuestas nacionales. Salud Publica Mex. 2013;55:S180–S9.PubMed
19.
Bustamante AV, Fang H, Garza J, Carter-Pokras O, Wallace SP, Rizzo JA, et al. Variations in healthcare access and utilization among Mexican immigrants: the role of documentation status. J Immigr Minor Health. 2012;14(1):146–55.CrossRef
20.
Iriart C, Boursaw B, Rodrigues GP, Handal AJ. Obesity and malnutrition among Hispanic children in the United States: double burden on health inequities. Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2013;34(4):235–43.PubMed
21.
Suro R. Survey of Mexican migrants: part one: attitudes about immigration and major demographic characteristics: pew Hispanic center; 2005.
22.
Seidell JC, Flegal KM. Assessing obesity: classification and epidemiology. Br Med Bull. 1997;53(2):238–52.PubMedCrossRef
23.
Carroll JF, Chiapa AL, Rodriquez M, Phelps DR, Cardarelli KM, Vishwanatha JK, et al. Visceral fat, waist circumference, and BMI: impact of race/ethnicity. Obesity. 2008;16(3):600–7.PubMedCrossRef
24.
WHO. Waist circumference and waist-hip ratio: Report of a WHO expert consultation. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2011.
25.
Lara A, Meaney A, Morales PK, Meaney E, Asbún-Bojalil J, Lucas CHÁ, et al. Frecuencia de obesidad abdominal en médicos mexicanos de primer contacto y en sus pacientes. Medicina Interna de México. 2007;23(5):391–977.
26.
Berber A, Gomez-Santos R, Fanghänel G, Sanchez-Reyes L. Anthropometric indexes in the prediction of type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension and dyslipidaemia in a Mexican population. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2001;25(12):1794–9.PubMedCrossRef
27.
Barquera S, Campos-Nonato I, Hernández-Barrera L, Pedroza A, Rivera-Dommarco JA. Prevalencia de obesidad en adultos mexicanos, 2000-2012. Salud Publica Mex. 2013;55:S151–S60.PubMedCrossRef
28.
Pedroza-Tobías A, Rivera-Dommarco JA. Prevalencia de obesidad en adultos mexicanos, ENSANUT 2012. Salud Publica Mex. 2013;55(suplemento 2):151-60.CrossRef
29.
Alonso AL, Munguía-Miranda C, Ramos-Ponce D, Hernandez-Saavedra D, Kumate J, Cruz M. Waist perimeter cutoff points and prediction of metabolic syndrome risk. A study in a Mexican population. Arch Med Res. 2008;39(3):346–51.PubMedCrossRef
30.
Frisancho AR. Anthropometric standards for the assessment of growth and nutritional status. USA: University of Michigan Press; 1990.CrossRef
31.
Palacio-Prieto JL, Sánchez-Salazar M, Izquierdo JC, Frejomil EP, Campos JD, Becerril LC, et al. Indicadores para la caracterización y ordenamiento del territorio: Instituto Nacional de Ecología; 2004.
32.
Ayala GX, Mueller K, Lopez-Madurga E, Campbell NR, Elder JP. Restaurant and food shopping selections among Latino women in Southern California. J Am Diet Assoc. 2005;105(1):38–45.PubMedCrossRef
33.
Catlin TK, Simoes EJ, Brownson RC. Environmental and policy factors associated with overweight among adults in Missouri. Am J Health Promot. 2003;17(4):249–58.PubMedCrossRef
34.
Cuellar I, Arnold B, Maldonado R. Acculturation rating-scale for Mexican-Americans ii - a revision of the original Arsma scale. Hisp J Behav Sci. 1995;17(3):275–304.CrossRef
35.
Bauman S. The reliability and validity of the brief-acculturation-rating-scale-for-Mexican-Americans-II for children and adolescents. Hisp J Behav Sci. 2005;27(4):426–41.CrossRef
36.
StataCorp. Stata Statistical Software: Release 13. College Station, TX: StataCorp LP.; 2013.
37.
Cárdenas Elizalde M, Cortés Cáceres F, Escobar Latapí A, Nahmad Sittón S, Scott Andretta J, Teruel BG. Diagnóstico sobre alimentación y nutrición, nforme ejecutivo. CONEVAL. 2015;23:2019.
38.
Satterthwaite D, Mitlin D. Urban poverty in the global south: scale and nature: Routledge; 2012.
39.
World Health Organization. Unmasking and overcoming health inequities in urban settings. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2010.
40.
Rivera-Batiz FL. The state of newyorktitlan: a socioeconomic profile of mexican new yorkers. New York: Teacher’s college, Columbia University; 2003.
41.
Garcia C. Buscando trabajo: social networking among immigrants from Mexico to the United States. Hisp J Behav Sci. 2005;27(1):3–22.CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Short relative leg length is associated with overweight and obesity in Mexican immigrant women
Authors
Mireya Vilar-Compte
James Macinko
Beth C. Weitzman
Carlos M. Avendaño-Villela
Publication date
01-12-2019
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
International Journal for Equity in Health / Issue 1/2019
Electronic ISSN: 1475-9276
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-019-0988-0

Other articles of this Issue 1/2019

International Journal for Equity in Health 1/2019 Go to the issue

Research

Ethics, health policy-making and the economic crisis: a qualitative interview study with European policy-makers

Systematic review

Beyond enrolments: a systematic review exploring the factors affecting the retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health students in the tertiary education system

Research

Horizontal equity in access to public GP services by socioeconomic group: potential bias due to a compartmentalised approach

Research

Factors influencing oncologists’ prescribing hormonal therapy in women with breast cancer: a qualitative study in Córdoba, Argentina

Research

Evolution of catastrophic health expenditure in a high income country: incidence versus inequalities

Research

Socioeconomic inequalities in maternal health care utilization in Ghana