Birth Weight, Postnatal Growth, and Age at Menarche

Abstract

Larger body size in childhood is correlated with earlier age at menarche; whether birth and infant body size changes are also associated with age at menarche is less clear. The authors contacted female participants enrolled in the New York site of the US National Collaborative Perinatal Project born between 1959 and 1963 (n = 262). This racially and ethnically diverse cohort (38% white, 40% African American, and 22% Puerto Rican) was used to investigate whether maternal (body size, pregnancy weight gain, age at menarche, smoking) and birth (birth weight, birth length, placental weight) variables and early infant body size changes were associated with age at menarche even after considering later childhood body size. Higher percentile change in weight from ages 4 months to 1 year was associated with earlier age at menarche even after adjustment for later childhood growth (beta = -0.15, 95% confidence interval: -0.27, -0.02 years per 10-percentile change in weight from ages 4 months to 1 year). The association was in the same direction for all 3 racial/ethnic groups but was largest for the white group. These New York Women's Birth Cohort Adult Follow-up data (2001-2006) suggest that infant weight gain, in addition to childhood weight gain, may be associated with earlier age at menarche.

Gestational Weight Gain and Daughter's Age at Menarche

“…14 However, our findings differ from those of Terry et al 48 who did not find an association between maternal GWG and daughter's age at menarche in a similarly aged cohort of 262 women. The association between maternal GWG and age at menarche may operate through several pathways.…”

Does Birth Weight Influence the Age of Menarche? A Cross Sectional Study in Rural Kerala

“…6 A study conducted by Terry MB et al in an ethnically and racially diverse cohort in US found that girls who weighed more with more body fat distribution at the age of 7 years attained earlier menarche. 20 This study also showed that girls who weighed lighter at birth had an earlier age of menarche, but no statistical significant correlation was observed. Our study also showed no significant relation between birth weight and age of menarche.…”

“…21 This result was in contrast to the study conducted in US. 20 In our study, most of the girls did not know their weight or height at the time of menarche and therefore the BMI at the time of menarche could not be calculated. Thus, we could not find out whether there was a correlation between age at menarche and BMI at menarche, this may be considered a limitation in our study.…”

Biological maturity at birth, the course of the subsequent ontogenetic stages and age at menarche

“…Fledelius (1982) have suggested that in preterm-born girls and in girls with low birth weight (<2000 g), menarche occurs about 3-6 months later than in girls born at term. Similarly, Berankova (1997) have demonstrated that menarche was delayed by 3-6 months in girls with birth weight lower than 2500 g. Also Terry et al (2009) related low birth weight (<2500 g) to a higher probability of menarche at about 7.2 months later than in children with birth weight amounting to or greater than 2500 g.…”