Social class-specific secular trends in height among 19-year old Polish men: 6th national surveys from 1965 till 2010.

The results presented in this study concern the assessment of the secular trend of body height in 10 % a random national sample (N = 134,224) representing all regions of Poland in 8 homogeneous social groups over 45 years in Poland (1965-2010). Very significant political, social and economic changes in Poland occurred in the period studied. The political revolution that began in Poland at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s dramatically changed the picture of social inequalities in the country. It rapidly transformed (in different directions and to a different degree) the economic situation, working conditions, lifestyles and the prestige of particular social classes and professional groups. A positive secular trend was observed in 19-year-old participants in the period analysed in all homogeneous socio-professional groups, however, with different intensity in each group. The highest body height increases in 1965-2010 were observed in the sons of farmers with post-primary father's education (7.77 cm). The lowest were observed among the sons of professionals, only 5.45 cm. Although social distances between extreme socio-economic groups significantly decreased (from 4.89 cm in 1965 to 2.76 cm in 2010), social gradients of body height, despite the improvement in the standards of living of the entire society remained exceptionally stable and unchanged for nearly half a century.

Efficacy of manual lymphatic drainage in preventing secondary lymphedema after breast cancer surgery.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of manual lymphatic drainage (MLD) in the prevention of secondary lymphedema after treatment of breast cancer. The study consisted of 67 women, who underwent breast surgery for primary breast cancer. From the second day of surgery, 33 randomly chosen women were given MLD. The control group consisted of 34 women who did not receive MLD. Measurements of the volumes of both the arms were taken before surgery and on days 2, 7, 14, and at 3 and 6 months after surgery. At 6 months after breast cancer surgery, among the women who did not undergo MLD, a significant increase in the arm volume on the operated side was observed (p=0.0033) when compared with the arm volume before surgery. At this time, there was no statistically significant increase in the volume of the upper limb on the operated side in women who underwent MLD. This study demonstrates that regardless of the surgery type and the number of the lymph nodes removed, MLD effectively prevented lymphedema of the arm on the operated side. Even in high risk breast cancer treatments (operation plus irradiation), MLD was demonstrated to be effective against arm volume increase. Even though confirmatory studies are needed, this study demonstrates that MLD administered early after operation for breast cancer should be considered for the prevention of lymphedema.

Changes in the BMI of Polish conscripts between 1965 and 2001: secular and socio-occupational variation.

OBJECTIVE: To describe changes in the body mass index (BMI) of nationally representative samples of young adult Polish males between 1965 and 2001, and to investigate variation in the incidence of underweight, overweight and obesity between 1965 and 2001 in the young adult males in the context of the socio-political transformation that occurred in Poland since 1989. SUBJECTS: Four 10% nationwide random samples of 29-year-old Polish conscripts examined in 1965, 1986, 1995 and 2001. The conscripts were divided into four socio-occupational groups based on paternal education, occupation and degree of urbanization. MEASUREMENTS: Height, weight and BMI (weight (kg)/height (m2)). RESULTS: The proportion of overweight and underweight young adult males in the population increased between 1965 and 2001. The fraction of underweight decreased only among sons of farmers and entrepreneurs between 1986 and 1995 and then increased in all socio-occupational groups between 1995 and 2001. On the other hand, the proportion of overweight young adults gradually increased in all groups between 1965 and 2001. CONCLUSION: Socio-occupational position of the family is an important factor influencing underweight and overweight in young adult males. This factor apparently operates through a differential distribution of income, which influences components of lifestyle most likely associated with level of habitual physical activity and/or diet.

Changing patterns of social variation in stature in Poland: effects of transition from a command economy to the free-market system?

The aim of this analysis was to examine the effects on stature in two nationally representative samples of Polish 19-year-old conscripts of maternal and paternal education level, and of degree of urbanization, before and after the economic transition of 1990. Data were from two national surveys of 19-year-old Polish conscripts: 27,236 in 1986 and 28,151 in 2001. In addition to taking height measurements, each subject was asked about the socioeconomic background of their families, including paternal and maternal education, and the name of the locality of residence. The net effect of each of these social factors on stature was determined using four-factor analysis of variance. The secular trend towards increased stature of Polish conscripts has slowed down from a rate 2.1 cm per decade across the period 1965-1986 to 1.5 cm per decade between 1986 and 2001. In both cohorts, mean statures increase with increasing size of locality of residence, paternal education and maternal education. The effect of each of these three social factors on conscript height is highly significant in both cohorts. However, the effect of maternal education has increased substantially while that of size of locality of residence and paternal education diminished between 1986 and 2001. These results imply that the influence of parental education on child growth cannot be due solely to a relationship between education and income, but is also perhaps a reflection of household financial management which benefits child health and growth by better educated parents, regardless of level of income. In addition they suggest that, irrespective of whether there are one or two breadwinners in the family, it is the mother, more so than the father, who is principally responsible for the extent to which such management best favours child health and growth. The asymmetry between the importance of maternal as against paternal education for child growth, clearly seen in the 1986 cohort, became more accentuated in 2001, after the abrupt transition from a command to a free-market economy in the early 1990s.

Variation in body mass index among Polish adults: effects of sex, age, birth cohort, and social class.

Variation in the body mass index (BMI) among occupationally active inhabitants of one Polish urban center was studied by means of a three-factor ANOVA. The material is cross-sectional and comprises 32,750 men and women aged 22-60 years, examined in five successive surveys between 1983-1999. The factors considered in each sex were: 1) age category, 2) year of examination, and 3) social class. The increase of BMI with age is markedly greater among women than among men. No sustained intergeneration trend towards increased BMI was detectable in either sex. The BMI means rise regularly with decreasing position on the social scale in both sexes, but this effect is much more dramatic in women. The latter finding suggests that the condition of being situated low on the social scale is conducive to growth of fatness with age, markedly more so in women than in men. The absence of a secular trend in BMI means during the period considered contrasts with results reported for a number of other countries. This finding is intriguing, because Poland underwent abrupt and profound socio-economic transformation in the early 1990s.

Young adult height of offspring born to rural-to-urban migrant parents and urban-born parents.

This study addresses the influence of the urban or rural origin of parents on the attained height of 19-year-old young adult males resident in urban centers. The material for the study was a 10% random sample of 19-year-old Polish conscripts born in 1976 and examined in 1995. The conscripts represented all regions of the country and all social strata. Among the total sample, only those who were born and raised in and who currently lived in cities with a population > 100,000 inhabitants were retained for analysis. They were grouped by educational level of their parents and by family size (number of children). Within limits of homogeneous groups, the heights of conscripts whose parents were both of rural origin were compared to heights of conscripts whose parents were both of urban origin. Within each of nine homogeneous groups, conscripts whose parents were both of rural origin were, on average, taller than conscripts whose parents were both of urban origin. Results were similar when the origin and educational level of either the mother or the father, in addition to family size, were considered separately.

An assessment of biological age of males in Poland.

BACKGROUND: Studies carried out in Poland have shown that some important indices of growth and maturation in children, of the biological well-being during adulthood and the rates of premature mortality depend strongly upon the individual's position on the social scale. AIM: The study considers whether adult males of higher educational status differ from their chronological age-matches of lower educational status in biological age. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The data of 2800 occupationally active men, aged 25-65 from the 1994/1995 Polish Health Surveys were used. Twenty-two different measures were used. Biological age was assessed by the method of Borkan and Norris (Journal of Gerontology, 35, 177-184, 1980). RESULTS: A comparison of biological age profiles of two groups of males based on their educational status showed that in 13 of the 22 characteristics. better-educated men were biologically younger than their poorer educated peers (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Better education is associated with the slowing down of the process of ageing, probably because it produces a healthier life-style.

Variation in the body mass index among young adult Polish males between 1965 and 1995.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the incidence of overweight and underweight individuals among young adults showed inter-generation changes or social-class differences in Poland between the mid-1960s and mid-1990s. DESIGN: Comparisons of variation in the body mass index and in height among 19-y-old Polish males drawn from three successive birth cohorts. SUBJECTS: Three 10% nation wide random samples of 19-y-old Polish conscripts, examined in 1965, 1986 and 1995, a total of ca. 80,000 individuals. MEASUREMENTS: Body mass index (weight (kg)/height (m2) and height (m). PRINCIPAL RESULT: There has been during the three decades between the mid-1960s and mid-1990s a gradual and significant increase in the proportion of both 'overweight' and of 'underweight' young males, as well as of the very tall and very short ones in the population. CONCLUSION: The above finding seems intriguing. It may suggest that certain elements of individual lifestyles, those influencing the leanness vs fatness variation among young adults, as well as those affecting growth in height, have tended to become in Poland increasingly diversified in terms of between-family differences, irrespective of social-class differences and of the general nationwide changes in living standards.

The stratifying force of family size, urbanization and parental education in socialist-era Poland.

The strength of influence upon statural variation of: (1) the degree of urbanization of the locality of habitat, (2) family size, (3) paternal and (4) maternal educational status was analysed in three generations of 19-year-old Polish conscripts, examined in 1965, 1986 and 1995. Each of the above factors of an individual's social situation was described by a 4-level scale. Each factor was found to exert a highly significant residual effect on stature throughout the three decades considered, even after the effects of other correlated factors were partialed out by three-factor ANOVA. However, the stratifying force of each factor, as expressed by the dispersal of the level-specific main effects around the national mean, has been changing over time. For example, the growth-stunting effect of the condition of coming from a large sibship was dramatic in the 1965 cohort and considerably attenuated in 1986 but ceased to diminish thereafter. The growth-enhancing effect of the condition of being a large-city dweller, initially marked, has almost disappeared; but the growth-stunting effect of the condition of being a rural dweller has remained equally strong across all cohorts. These and other shifts in the relative importance of the social factors, as presumed determinants of family living standards, are described and some explanations attempted.

PIP: This study analyzed the strength of influence upon statural variation, such as: 1) the degree of urbanization of the locality of habitat; 2) family size; 3) paternal education; and 4) maternal educational status. Data was collected in the course of three medical and sociological surveys of 19-year-old Polish conscripts examined in 1965, 1986, and 1995. A 4-level scale described each of the above factors of an individual's social situation. Each factor was observed to apply a highly significant residual effect on stature throughout the three-decades reviewed, even after the effects of other correlated factors were partialled out by three-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA). Findings indicate that in Poland between the late 1940s and the late 1980s, significant inter-generation changes were occurring in the relative importance of the factors of urbanization, parental education, and family size as determinants of family living standards. These patterns should be examined in relation to socioenvironmental aspects, such as wages, real income, handling of family budgets, dietary habits, and city size-dependent availability of principal food items in the local market, periodic food shortages, hygiene standards, and morbidity rates. However, such data are often unreliable and too generalized. Moreover, growth studies should be considered as a potential information source for sociologists, demographers, specialists in public health, and economic historians.

Secular trends in stature in Poland: national and social class-specific.

Mean statures of Polish 19-year-old males, as estimated from large national random samples of conscripts examined at 10-year intervals, increased from 170.5cm in 1965 to 176.9cm in 1995. The average statural gain of 2.1 cm per decade is rather high compared to other European countries, although not exceptionally so. In addition, secular trends were analysed separately for each of seven selected social groups, each group comprising subjects equated for three social criteria. The rank-order of the seven groups on the statural scale has remained identical throughout the period considered, although the group-specific trends have not been strictly parallel. During the period 1965 1986 there has been a tendency for the groups lowest on the social and statural scale to diminish their statural distance from the social elite, the sons of the large-city intelligentsia, a social group consistently the tallest of all the seven groups considered. However, that tendency for the social gaps to narrow came to a halt during the last, 1986-1995, decade. The present time-lag, in stature, of the group lowest on the social scale, the peasants, behind the social elite amounts to almost 30 years. These findings assume special significance in view of: (1) the high ethnic homogeneity of the population of Poland; (2) the absence in that population of any social-class differences in gene frequencies; and (3) certain peculiarities of Poland's post-war economic and political history.