Zygmunt Welon

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 differeces and of the general nationwide changes in living standards.

Effect of education and marital status on premature mortality among urban adults in Poland 1988-1989.

Mortality rates among adults 25–64 years of age (premature mortality) in 1988 and 1989 were compared by educational status (a four‐level scale) and marital status (married vs. nonmarried) in three Polish cities situated in ecologically different regions of Poland. Each of the two social factors has a significant influence on mortality after the effect of the other is controlled statistically. The risk of premature death increases regularly with an individuals decreasing position on the educational scale; also, the risk is higher among nonmarried than among married persons. This is true in all three urban populations, at all age levels considered, and in both genders. However, the effects of education and of marital status on premature mortality are more dramatic in males than in females. At middle age, the condition of having no spouse and of being poorly educated each expose males to a greater risk of premature mortality than females. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 11:397–403, 1999.

Fitness of professionals and skilled workers in Poland

Simple measures of the biological fitness of adult men aged 25-65 years, inhabitants of the city of Wroclaw, Poland, were studied in two well-defined social groups: professionals and skilled workers. It was found that the manual workers, compared to professionals, have higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure, lower relative vital capacity, inferior flexibility of spine, poorer eye-hand co-ordination, and poorer hearing acuity. These social differences appear consistently at each age level between 25 and 65 years and tend to increase with age to the disadvantage of skilled workers.

Bone mineral status of Polish men in the course of normal ageing

Summary. Age‐related changes in the bone mineral content (BMC) of men are conditioned by both genetic and environmental factors distinctive for particular populations. This results in considerable differences between various populations concerning the prevalence of osteopenia and osteoporosis, and the occurrence of normal variability in BMC among adult and elderly men. The aim of the study was to evaluate the variation of BMC with age in an ethnically homogenous sample of 405 healthy men, aged 20–60 years, all occupationally active inhabitants of the city of Wroclaw, Lower Silesia, Poland. Trabecular and total BMC at the ultradistal radius of the nondominant hand were assessed by peripheral quantitative computerized tomography using the Stratec 960 densitometer. Among Polish men a distinct phase of maximal BMC values (around the age of 30) was distinguished, with a subsequent, quite rapid decline in bone mass. For example, the peak value of trabecular BMC decreased by approximately 13.2% per decade. In Polish men up to 30–34 years old trabecular and total BMC even exceeded reference values by 10%; however, from 35 years onwards their BMC was lower than standard values. This unfavourable phenomenon of BMC decline was augmented with age, and finally BMC values in men aged 55 and over were 30–35% lower than reference values. The significant discrepancies found between the data presented in this study and reference values probably result from inter‐populational differences in the lifestyles of healthy ageing men. The results also confirm that bone density (with its age‐related changes in the course of normal male ageing) is one of the biological features characteristic of this particular regional population.