TY - JOUR

T1 - Diminishing benefits of urban living for children and adolescents’ growth and development

AU - Mishra, Anu

AU - Zhou, Bin

AU - Rodriguez-Martinez, Andrea

AU - Bixby, Honor

AU - Singleton, Rosie K.

AU - Carrillo-Larco, Rodrigo M.

AU - Sheffer, Kate E.

AU - Paciorek, Christopher J.

AU - Bennett, James E.

AU - Lhoste, Victor

AU - Iurilli, Maria L.C.

AU - Di Cesare, Mariachiara

AU - Baker, Jennifer Lyn

AU - Afzal, Shoaib

AU - Allin, Kristine

AU - Andersen, Lars Bo

AU - Ängquist, Lars

AU - Jørgensen, Maja Bæksgaard

AU - Bjerregaard, Peter

AU - Bojesen, Stig Egil

AU - Christensen, Kaare

AU - Damsgaard, Camilla Trab

AU - Dantoft, Thomas M

AU - Eliasen, Marie

AU - Eriksen, Louise

AU - Halkjær, Jytte

AU - Giwercman, Aleksander

AU - Jørgensen, Torben

AU - Kristensen, Peter Lund

AU - Lind, Lars

AU - Linneberg, Allan

AU - Liu, Jing

AU - Madsen, Anja Lykke

AU - Michaelsen, Kim F.

AU - Møllehave, Line Tang

AU - Mortensen, Erik Lykke

AU - Nordestgaard, Børge

AU - Osler, Merete

AU - Overvad, Kim

AU - Schmidt, Ida Maria

AU - Schnohr, Peter

AU - Schramm, Stine

AU - Sobngwi, Eugène

AU - Sodemann, Morten

AU - Sørensen, Thorkild I.A.

AU - Tjønneland, Anne

AU - Tolstrup, Janne S

AU - Wang, Qian

AU - Yang, Yang

AU - NCD Risk Factor Collaboration (NCD-RisC)

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s).

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - Optimal growth and development in childhood and adolescence is crucial for lifelong health and well-being1–6. Here we used data from 2,325 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight from 71 million participants, to report the height and body-mass index (BMI) of children and adolescents aged 5–19 years on the basis of rural and urban place of residence in 200 countries and territories from 1990 to 2020. In 1990, children and adolescents residing in cities were taller than their rural counterparts in all but a few high-income countries. By 2020, the urban height advantage became smaller in most countries, and in many high-income western countries it reversed into a small urban-based disadvantage. The exception was for boys in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in some countries in Oceania, south Asia and the region of central Asia, Middle East and north Africa. In these countries, successive cohorts of boys from rural places either did not gain height or possibly became shorter, and hence fell further behind their urban peers. The difference between the age-standardized mean BMI of children in urban and rural areas was <1.1 kg m–2 in the vast majority of countries. Within this small range, BMI increased slightly more in cities than in rural areas, except in south Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and some countries in central and eastern Europe. Our results show that in much of the world, the growth and developmental advantages of living in cities have diminished in the twenty-first century, whereas in much of sub-Saharan Africa they have amplified.

AB - Optimal growth and development in childhood and adolescence is crucial for lifelong health and well-being1–6. Here we used data from 2,325 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight from 71 million participants, to report the height and body-mass index (BMI) of children and adolescents aged 5–19 years on the basis of rural and urban place of residence in 200 countries and territories from 1990 to 2020. In 1990, children and adolescents residing in cities were taller than their rural counterparts in all but a few high-income countries. By 2020, the urban height advantage became smaller in most countries, and in many high-income western countries it reversed into a small urban-based disadvantage. The exception was for boys in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in some countries in Oceania, south Asia and the region of central Asia, Middle East and north Africa. In these countries, successive cohorts of boys from rural places either did not gain height or possibly became shorter, and hence fell further behind their urban peers. The difference between the age-standardized mean BMI of children in urban and rural areas was <1.1 kg m–2 in the vast majority of countries. Within this small range, BMI increased slightly more in cities than in rural areas, except in south Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and some countries in central and eastern Europe. Our results show that in much of the world, the growth and developmental advantages of living in cities have diminished in the twenty-first century, whereas in much of sub-Saharan Africa they have amplified.

KW - Faculty of Science

KW - Children

KW - Adolescents

KW - Urban living

KW - Health

KW - Well-being

KW - Growth

KW - Development

U2 - 10.1038/s41586-023-05772-8

DO - 10.1038/s41586-023-05772-8

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 36991188

AN - SCOPUS:85151221457

VL - 615

SP - 874

EP - 883

JO - Nature

JF - Nature

SN - 0028-0836

IS - 7954

ER -