Newborn length has been reported by many researchers to be reduced at high altitudes. However, many of these studies lacked adequate control of the ethnic group which may be confounding the altitude differences. In addition, few studies have examined the sources of variation in birth weight at high altitudes that may be related to ethnic group adaptation to the stresses of this hypoxic environment. In our study, we tested the hypotheses that the effect of altitude differences in newborn length depends on ethnic variation. Samples of 3359 healthy male newborns from different areas in Kyrgyzstan between the years 2003 and 2011 were analyzed for altitude and ethnic variation on male newborn length. Our results indicate significant decrease in male newborn length as a latitude increase. It is concluded that ethnic group difference in pregnancy outcome reflects a better state of adaptation to high altitude in this healthy indigenous population and that long-term genetic selection may be the most plausible explanation for these ethnic differences.

许多研究人员报告说，在高海拔地区，新生儿的身长会缩短。然而，这些研究中的许多研究缺乏对种族群体的充分控制，这可能会混淆海拔差异。此外，很少有研究检查高海拔地区出生体重变化的来源，这可能与种族群体对这种缺氧环境压力的适应有关。在我们的研究中，我们检验了海拔差异对新生儿身长的影响取决于种族差异的假设。对 2003 年至 2011 年吉尔吉斯斯坦不同地区的 3359 名健康男性新生儿样本进行了分析，分析了男性新生儿身长的海拔和种族差异。我们的结果表明，随着纬度的增加，男性新生儿身长显着减少。