Annals of Epidemiology
Volume 21, Issue 1 , Pages 56-60 , January 2011

Size Does Matter: Adolescent Build and Male Reproductive Success in the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study

  • C. Mary Schooling, PhD

      Affiliations

    • School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
    • ,
  • Chaoqiang Jiang, MD

      Affiliations

    • Guangzhou Occupational Diseases Prevention and Treatment Centre, Guangzhou Number 12 Hospital, Guangzhou, China
    • ,
  • Weisen Zhang, MD

      Affiliations

    • Guangzhou Occupational Diseases Prevention and Treatment Centre, Guangzhou Number 12 Hospital, Guangzhou, China
    • ,
  • Tai Hing Lam, MD

      Affiliations

    • School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress correspondence to: Tai Hing Lam, MD, School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, 21 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China. Tel.: +852-2819-9280; Fax: +852-2855-8214.
    • ,
  • Kar Keung Cheng, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, The University of Birmingham, UK
    • ,
  • Gabriel M. Leung, MD

      Affiliations

    • School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

Received 21 April 2010 ,Accepted 19 May 2010.

References 

  1. Bateson P, Barker D, Clutton-Brock T, Deb D, D'Udine B, Foley RA, et al. Developmental plasticity and human health. Nature. 2004;430:419–421
  2. Gluckman PD, Hanson MA, Cooper C, Thornburg KL. Effect of in utero and early-life conditions on adult health and disease. N Engl J Med. 2008;359:61–73
  3. Höglund J, Sheldon BC. The cost of reproduction and sexual selection. Oikos. 1998;83:478–483
  4. Andersson M, Simmons LW. Sexual selection and mate choice. Trends Ecol Evol. 2006;21:296–302
  5. Folstad I, Karter AJ. Parasites, bright males, and the immunocompetence handicap. Am Nat. 1992;139:603–622
  6. Kuzawa CW. Developmental origins of life history: growth, productivity, and reproduction. Am J Hum Biol. 2007;19:654–661
  7. Lassek WD, Gaulin SJC. Cost and benefits of fat-free muscle mass in men: relationship to mating success, dietary requirements, and native immunity. Evol Hum Behav. 2009;30:322–328
  8. Frederick DA, Haselton MG. Why is muscularity sexy? Tests of the fitness indicator hypothesis. Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2007;33:1167–1183
  9. Dixson BJ, Dixson AF, Morgan B, Anderson MJ. Human physique and sexual attractiveness: sexual preferences of men and women in Bakossiland, Cameroon. Arch Sex Behav. 2007;36:369–375
  10. Dixson BJ, Dixson AF, Li B, Anderson MJ. Studies of human physique and sexual attractiveness: sexual preferences of men and women in China. Am J Hum Biol. 2007;19:88–95
  11. Provost MP, Kormos C, Kosakoski G, Quinsey VL. Sociosexuality in women and preference for facial masculinization and somatotype in men. Arch Sex Behav. 2006;35:305–312
  12. Dixson BJ, Dixson AF, Bishop PJ, Parish A. Human physique and sexual attractiveness in men and women: a New Zealand-U.S. comparative study. Arch Sex Behav. 2010;39:798–806
  13. Horvath T. Physical attractiveness: the influence of selected torso parameters. Arch Sex Behav. 1981;10:21–24
  14. Maisey DS, Vale EL, Cornelissen PL, Tovee MJ. Characteristics of male attractiveness for women. Lancet. 1999;353:1500
  15. Little AC, Jones BC, Burriss RP. Preferences for masculinity in male bodies change across the menstrual cycle. Horm Behav. 2007;51:633–639
  16. Guo SS, Chumlea WC, Roche AF, Siervogel RM. Age- and maturity-related changes in body composition during adolescence into adulthood: the Fels Longitudinal Study. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 1997;21:1167–1175
  17. Rico H, Revilla M, Villa LF, Hernandez ER, Varez de BM, Villa M. Body composition in children and Tanner's stages: a study with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Metabolism. 1993;42:967–970
  18. Zurlo F, Larson K, Bogardus C, Ravussin E. Skeletal muscle metabolism is a major determinant of resting energy expenditure. J Clin Invest. 1990;86:1423–1427
  19. Bouman A, Heineman MJ, Faas MM. Sex hormones and the immune response in humans. Hum Reprod Update. 2005;11:411–423
  20. Muehlenbein MP, Bribiescas RG. Testosterone-mediated immune functions and male life histories. Am J Hum Biol. 2005;17:527–558
  21. Boonekamp JJ, Ros AH, Verhulst S. Immune activation suppresses plasma testosterone level: a meta-analysis. Biol Lett. 2008;4:741–744
  22. Jiang C, Thomas GN, Lam TH, Schooling CM, Zhang W, Lao X, et al. Cohort profile: The Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study, a Guangzhou-Hong Kong-Birmingham collaboration. Int J Epidemiol. 2006;35:844–852
  23. Zhao M, Shu XO, Jin F, Yang G, Li HL, Liu DK, et al. Birthweight, childhood growth and hypertension in adulthood. Int J Epidemiol. 2002;31:1043–1051
  24. Chang KSF, Lee MMC, Low WD, Chui S, Chow M. Standards of height and weight of Southern Chinese children. Far East Med J. 1965;1:101–109
  25. Schooling CM, Jiang CQ, Lam TH, Zhang W, Cheng KK, Leung GM. Life-course origins of social inequalities in metabolic risk in the population of a developing country. Am J Epidemiol. 2008;167:419–428
  26. Jokela M, Kivimaki M, Elovainio M, Viikari J, Raitakari OT, Keltikangas-Jarvinen L. Body mass index in adolescence and number of children in adulthood. Epidemiology. 2007;18:599–606
  27. Jokela M, Elovainio M, Kivimaki M. Lower fertility associated with obesity and underweight: the U.S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008;88:886–893
  28. Ohlsson T, Smith HG, Raberg L, Hasselquist D. Pheasant sexual ornaments reflect nutritional conditions during early growth. Proc Biol Sci. 2002;269:21–27
  29. Prendergast BJ, Hotchkiss AK, Bilbo SD, Nelson RJ. Peripubertal immune challenges attenuate reproductive development in male Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus). Biol Reprod. 2004;70:813–820
  30. Curno O, Behnke JM, McElligott AG, Reader T, Barnard CJ. Mothers produce less aggressive sons with altered immunity when there is a threat of disease during pregnancy. Proc Biol Sci. 2009;276:1047–1054
  31. Muller W, Groothuis TG, Kasprzik A, Dijkstra C, Alatalo RV, Siitari H. Prenatal androgen exposure modulates cellular and humoral immune function of black-headed gull chicks. Proc Biol Sci. 2005;272:1971–1977
  32. Bowles GT. New types of old Americans at Harvard. Cambridge, (MA): Harvard University Press; 1932;
  33. Ellison PT, Bribiescas RG, Bentley GR, Campbell BC, Lipson SF, Panter-Brick C, et al. Population variation in age-related decline in male salivary testosterone. Hum Reprod. 2002;17:3251–3253
  34. Schooling CM, Leung GM. A socio-biological explanation for social disparities in non-communicable chronic diseases—the product of history?. JECH. 2010;DOI 101136/jech.2008.086553, epub 1st June 2010
  35. Roemmich JN, Rogol AD. Hormonal changes during puberty and their relationship to fat distribution. Am J Human Biol. 1999;11:209–224
  36. Kirkland RT, Keenan BS, Probstfield JL, Patsch W, Lin TL, Clayton GW, et al. Decrease in plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels at puberty in boys with delayed adolescence. Correlation with plasma testosterone levels. JAMA. 1987;257:502–507
  37. Lawlor DA, Ebrahim S, Smith GD. Sex matters: secular and geographical trends in sex differences in coronary heart disease mortality. BMJ. 2001;323:541–545
  38. Yano K, Blackwelder WC, Kagan A, Rhoads GG, Cohen JB, Marmot MG. Childhood cultural experience and the incidence of coronary heart disease in Hawaii Japanese men. Am J Epidemiol. 1979;109:440–450
  39. Marmot MG, Syme SL. Acculturation and coronary heart disease in Japanese-Americans. Am J Epidemiol. 1976;104:225–247
  40. Schooling CM, Lam TH, Ho SY, Mak KH, Leung GM. Does economic development contribute to sex differences in ischemic heart disease mortality? Hong Kong as a natural experiment using a case-control study. BMC Public Health. 2008;8:32
  41. Chung RY, Schooling CM, Cowling BJ, Leung GM. How does socioeconomic development affect risk of mortality? An age-period-cohort analysis from a recently transitioned population in China. Am J Epidemiol. 2010;171:345–356
  42. Schooling CM, Jiang CQ, Zhang WS, Lam TH, Cheng KK, Leung GM. Visceral adiposity would be expected to predict incident diabetes better in women than men. Diabetologia. 2010;53:393–395
  43. McGinnis MY. Anabolic androgenic steroids and aggression: studies using animal models. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2004;1036:399–415

PII: S1047-2797(10)00116-X

doi: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2010.05.005

Annals of Epidemiology
Volume 21, Issue 1 , Pages 56-60 , January 2011

Article Tools