Market Integration and Secular Changes in Anthropometric Characteristics in Two Maya Communities From Yucatan, Mexico.

Objective: To compare the changes in children's height, weight, and BMI from two Maya communities during 1986-2023 in order to analyze if their differences in degrees of participation in market economy are reflected in secular changes in growth measures.

Material And Methods: We compared the changes in height, weight, and BMI of 1463 children (6-12 years) from two communities (Dzeal and Yalcoba) differing by speed and degree of market integration along three points in time: 1986/1987, 1996-1998/2000 and 2022/2023. Linear regression models were adjusted to estimate the changes in height-for-age (HAZ) and BMI-for-age Z-scores (BMIZ) in each community by age group and sex using the period of measurement as the independent variable.

Results: Increases in HAZ between 1986/1987 and 2022/2023 were greater in children from the community with slower integration into the market economy (Dzeal). Differences in total increases between 1986/1987 and 2022/2023 in HAZ between communities were 0.50 (boys) and 1.19 (girls) standard deviations (SD) score in the 6-8-year-old group and 0.40 (boys) and 0.41 SD (girls) in children aged 9-12. Total increases in BMIZ were 0.81 SD (boys) and 1.07 SD (girls) in children (6-8 years) from the community with rapid integration (Yalcoba); changes in children with slower integration were not significant.

Conclusion: The rapid integration of the community into the market economy seems to favor larger secular increases in children's BMI and smaller increases in linear growth.