Trajectories of Body Height, Body Weight, BMI, and Nutrition Status from 1979 to 1987: A Measurement-Based Analysis of 8740 Montenegrin Male Adolescents from the Municipality of Berane

Abstract

This study aimed to consolidate the body height, body weight, BMI, and nutrition status data of the overall young male population from the Municipality of Berane in order to assess the trajectories of those variables from 1979 to 1987. The sample of respondents included 8740 adolescents who were divided into nine groups according to their age. The sample of variables included body height, body weight, body mass index, and nutrition status, which were presented based on a long-established BMI categorization (underweight, normal weight, pre-obese, and obese). The descriptive statistics are expressed as the mean and standard deviation for each variable; the analysis of nutrition status was calculated based on BMI, while LSD post hoc testing with ANOVA was employed to investigate differences between the means. The results indicate that a secular trend is visible regarding body height and body weight, while no trend is visible for the BMI and nutrition status. This study’s contribution is that it provides insight into more recently published data for the studied period and in this municipality, which can significantly aid in following the secular trend throughout Montenegro.