Background: It is generally accepted that height distribution in modern populations is nearly symmetrical. However, it may deviate from symmetry when nutritional status is inadequate. Aim and subjects: This study provides an analysis of changes in the shape of the height distributions among Swiss conscripts (n = 267,829) over the past 130 years based on a highly representative, standardized and unchanged data source.
Results: The analysed distributions from the 1870s-1890s conscription years are markedly left-skewed (-0.76 to -0.82), with short and very short men significantly over-represented. Standard deviation is 7.7 cm. In particular, the left tails of the late-19th- and early-20th-century distributions are very heavy. In the first half of the 20th century the first signs of a diminution of the heavy left tail are observable, by the 1970s the phenomenon disappears and height distribution becomes symmetrical; standard deviation is now 6.5 cm.
Conclusion: The relatively strong left-skewness during the late 19th and early 20th centuries may have been due to the interaction of a number of causes, chiefly malnutrition, a wider range in physical development at age 19 and widespread iodine deficiency.
Keywords: Anthropometric history; distribution; iodine deficiency; malnutrition; stature.