Height and social class in male adolescents from different ethnic backgrounds in Israel

The relationship between height and social class, independent of the effect of ethnic background was examined. This is a population-based study of 17-year-old Israeli-born Jewish males born between 1966-1969 who underwent routine physical examination prior to army recruitment. Inductees descending from 9 ethnic backgrounds - Germany, Hungary, India, Morocco, Poland, Romania, Russia, Yemen and at least 3rd-generation Israeli-born were used for this analysis. Anthropometric data was abstracted from the computerized induction examination; socioeconomic status (SES) was assigned according to the residence of each recruit. Statistical analysis included analysis of variance and chi square test for linear trend. Mean height of the total (reference) group was 173.7 cm, ranging from 172.0 cm in the lowest SES level to 175.1 cm in the highest level. The proportion of individuals above the 85th percentile of height of the reference group, increased linearly from 8.7% (lowest SES) to 18.5% (highest SES) (p < 0.01). The mean height of recruits differed considerably among ethnic groups in each SES level and ranged from 170.8 cm (Yemenites) to 175.4 cm (Russian and Romanian) in the total group. In each ethnic group, height differences between extreme levels of SES were observed ranging from 2.3 cm (Morocco) to 4.3 cm (Russia). We conclude that height among 17-year old Israeli-born males is positively associated with SES after controlling for ethnicity.