Table 3.

The association of protein intake (per SD) with body height and HAZ in different pubertal stages across different genders.

Pubertal Stage	Boys					Girls
	n	Body Height		HAZ		n	Body Height		HAZ
		β (95%CI)	p	β (95%CI)	p		β (95%CI)	p	β (95%CI)	p
Pre-puberty	266	−3.92 (−4.52, −3.32)	<0.001	−0.61 (−0.71, −0.50)	<0.001	77	−3.97 (−5.54, −2.40)	<0.001	−0.60 (−0.88, −0.31)	<0.001
Mid-puberty	580	−6.53 (−7.15, −5.91)	<0.001	−0.94 (−1.03, −0.84)	<0.001	307	−4.69 (−5.45, −3.93)	<0.001	−0.77 (−0.90, −0.64)	<0.001
Post-puberty	991	−5.82 (−6.55, −5.08)	<0.001	−0.73 (−0.83, −0.62)	<0.001	1078	−4.79 (−5.38, −4.20)	<0.001	−0.69 (−0.79, −0.60)	<0.001

Abbreviations: HAZ, height-for-age z score; SD, standard deviation. A generalized linear model was used. Protein intake was set to 1 SD increase of grams per kilogram weight per day (g·kg⁻¹·d⁻¹). Adjusted for ethnicity, age (as a continuous variable), pubertal stages, premature, birth length (as a continuous variable), maternal age (as a continuous variable), parental education levels (as a continuous variable), parental height (as a continuous variable), household income levels, smoking status, drinking status, moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), central obesity, length of nighttime sleep (as a continuous variable), dietary fat intake (as a continuous variable), and dietary carbohydrate intake (as a continuous variable), and serum calcium, zinc, vitamin D₃, and vitamin A levels as continuous variables.