Environmental factors influencing growth and pubertal development

Abstract

Postnatal growth is based on hereditary signals and environmental factors in a complex regulatory network. Each factor must be in an optimal state for normal growth of the child. Fetal conditions may also have consequences on postnatal height. Intrauterine growth retardation can be recovered postnatally, although postnatal growth remains depressed in about one-third of cases. After birth, the environment may exert either a positive or negative effect on growth. In underdeveloped countries, malnutrition plays a major role in inhibiting the growth process. Children from families of higher socioeconomic classes are taller than their coevals in the lower socioeconomic groups. Urbanization also has a positive effect on growth. Better child care is supported by sufficient food supply, appropriate health and sanitation services, and a higher level of education. Over the last century, these factors have induced a taller stature and a more rapid maturity in Europe, North America, and Australia; a phenomenon which has been referred to as "the secular trend" in growth. Recently, a secular trend has also been reported in some developing countries. Although urbanization in general appears to be associated with better conditions of living, this is not the case in the slums of South America or in Africa where rural children are better off than children living in the poor cities. This paper describes in more detail the different hereditary and environmental factors that act during the fetal period and postnatally, and which play a role in human growth and pubertal development.