Height and infant mortality are both considered health indicators of a population, yet they tend to be much more strongly correlated in high-income, low-mortality populations. This article shows that infant deaths are not representative of the health of survivors as it relates to height because breastfeeding practices shield them from part of the disease environment. Instead, child mortality rates, especially from food and waterborne diseases, capture the disease load that is associated with lower heights better. The period of this study is 1850–1940, with a focus on 1875–1900, as the Netherlands underwent major health and wealth transitions. Individual conscription heights from the Historical Sample of the Netherlands as well as municipal conscription statistics are used. The article takes a diachronic approach to examine how various health indicators have developed over time. The start of the upward trend in heights and the improvement of child mortality rates coincided in four Dutch regions, whereas infant mortality rates followed a different trajectory. Bivariate maps are used to identify municipalities in which infant and child mortality did not correlate. This study adds to both the understanding of heights as a health indicator and local breastfeeding practices in the nineteenth-century Netherlands.

中文翻译：

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身高与儿童的疾病环境：1850-1940 年荷兰死亡率与身高之间的关系

身高和婴儿死亡率都被认为是人口的健康指标，但它们在高收入、低死亡率人群中的相关性往往更强。本文表明，婴儿死亡并不能代表幸存者的健康状况，因为它与身高有关，因为母乳喂养的做法使他们免受部分疾病环境的影响。相反，儿童死亡率，尤其是食物和水传播疾病的死亡率，可以更好地反映与身高较低相关的疾病负荷。本研究的时期为 1850 年至 1940 年，重点关注 1875 年至 1900 年，当时荷兰经历了重大的健康和财富转型。使用荷兰历史样本中的个人征兵身高以及市政征兵统计数据。本文采用历时方法来研究各种健康指标如何随着时间的推移而发展。荷兰四个地区的身高上升趋势和儿童死亡率的改善同时发生，但婴儿死亡率却遵循不同的轨迹。双变量地图用于识别婴儿和儿童死亡率不相关的城市。这项研究加深了人们对身高作为健康指标的理解，并加深了对十九世纪荷兰当地母乳喂养实践的理解。