The comparative growth of Efe pygmies and African farmers from birth to age 5 years

Recent studies of African pygmies have concluded that the pattern of pygmy growth is similar to that of other Africans up to the time of puberty and that the short stature of adult pygmies is due primarily, if not solely, to the absence of accelerated adolescent growth. These conclusions are thought to be consistent with biochemical studies showing pygmies to have low levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). All previous pygmy-growth studies have been of subjects of estimated, not known age. This paper reports the results of a mixed longitudinal growth study of Efe pygmy children of known age from birth to age 5 years. The mean adult stature of Efe pygmies is the shortest of any human population known, including other pygmy populations of central Africa. At birth, Efe were significantly smaller than neighbouring Lese Sudanic-speaking farmers and other rural Africans. During the first 5 years of life, Efe not only remained shorter than Lese controls at all ages, but the difference in stature between them increased. Unlike the Lese, Efe children showed a trend of increasingly negative z scores compared with the American reference population, from -2.71 (SD = 0.93) at 6 months to -4.16 (SD = 0.46) at age 5 years. These results indicate that suppression of pygmy growth does not occur solely at puberty, but from birth onward. Furthermore, they suggest that conclusions concerning the lack of an adolescent pygmy growth spurt have been premature and must await studies of older pygmy sub-adults of known age.