Brief Report

Lai, Tsz Chun; Yeung, Shiu Lun Au; Lin, Shi Lin; Leung, Gabriel M.; Schooling, CM

doi:10.1097/ede.0000000000000448

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…In both these studies, ample energy for catch-up growth was presumably available, thus allowing the acceleration of maturation. Similar studies have associated earlier mother’s menarche with elevated adiposity and offspring blood pressure [ 101–103 ]. Importantly, some of these inter-generational associations extend to sons as well as daughters [ 98 , 102 ], though the long-term consequences for sons have received little attention.…”

Section: Intergenerational Transmission Of Life History Strategy and supporting

confidence: 63%

Life history trade-offs and the partitioning of maternal investment

Wells

2018

Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health

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Lay Summary: This review sets out the hypothesis that life history trade-offs in the maternal generation favour the emergence of similar trade-offs in the offspring generation, mediated by the partitioning of maternal investment between pregnancy and lactation, and that these trade-offs help explain widely reported associations between growth trajectories and NCD risk.Growth patterns in early life predict the risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), but adaptive explanations remain controversial. It is widely assumed that NCDs occur either because of physiological adjustments to early constraints, or because early ecological cues fail to predict adult environmental conditions (mismatch). I present an inter-generational perspective on developmental plasticity, based on the over-arching hypothesis that a key axis of variability in maternal metabolism derives from life history trade-offs, which influence how individual mothers partition nutritional investment in their offspring between pregnancy and lactation. I review evidence for three resulting predictions: (i) Allocating relatively more energy to growth during development promotes the capacity to invest in offspring during pregnancy. Relevant mechanisms include greater fat-free mass and metabolic turnover, and a larger physical space for fetal growth. (ii) Allocating less energy to growth during development constrains fetal growth of the offspring, but mothers may compensate by a tendency to attain higher adiposity around puberty, ecological conditions permitting, which promotes nutritional investment during lactation. (iii) Since the partitioning of maternal investment between pregnancy and lactation impacts the allocation of energy to ‘maintenance’ as well as growth, it is expected to shape offspring NCD risk as well as adult size and body composition. Overall, this framework predicts that life history trade-offs in the maternal generation favour the emergence of similar trade-offs in the offspring generation, mediated by the partitioning of maternal investment between pregnancy and lactation, and that these trade-offs help explain widely reported associations between growth trajectories and NCD risk.

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Section: Intergenerational Transmission Of Life History Strategy and supporting

confidence: 63%

Life history trade-offs and the partitioning of maternal investment

Wells

2018

Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health

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“…It was originally recorded in 10 categories in complete years: ≤9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and ≥18. To be consistent with previous similar studies [ 13 , 14 ] and our previous study [ 16 ], it was re-categorised into 5 categories: ≤11, 12, 13, 14 and ≥15 years.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…To address this question more fully, we took advantage of a population-representative birth cohort, “Children of 1997”, from the developed non-Western setting of Hong Kong to assess the association of maternal age of menarche, i.e., age of first menstruation, with blood pressure. Given, earlier maternal age of menarche, was associated with higher BMI, in our cohort [ 16 ] as well as in other studies [ 13 – 15 ], we also assessed mediation by BMI, and in a complementary analysis mediation by pubertal stage.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Whether associations of earlier puberty with non-communicable diseases are limited to one generation, or extend across generations has seldom been examined. All previous studies have found earlier maternal age of menarche associated with higher body mass index (BMI) in childhood [ 13 – 16 ]. A small study found a positive association of maternal age of menarche with systolic blood pressure in girls after 12 years of age [ 17 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Maternal Age of Menarche and Blood Pressure in Adolescence: Evidence from Hong Kong’s “Children of 1997” Birth Cohort

2016

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BackgroundAge of puberty has declined substantially in developed settings and is now declining in the rest of the world with economic development. Early age of puberty is associated with non-communicable diseases in adulthood, and may be a long-term driver of population health with effects over generations. In a non-Western setting, we examined the association of maternal age of menarche with blood pressure in late childhood/adolescence.MethodsWe used generalised estimating equations to estimate the adjusted association of maternal age of menarche with age-, sex- and height-adjusted blood pressure z-score from 10 to 16 years in Hong Kong’s population-representative birth cohort, “Children of 1997” (n = 8327). We also assessed whether associations were mediated by body mass index (BMI) or pubertal stage.ResultsEarlier maternal age of menarche was associated with higher systolic blood pressure in adolescence [-0.02 z-score per year older maternal age of menarche, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.04 to -0.003]. The association of maternal age of menarche with systolic blood pressure was mediated by adiposity and/or pubertal stage at 11 years. Maternal age of menarche was not associated with diastolic blood pressure.ConclusionEarlier maternal age of puberty was associated with higher systolic blood pressure, largely mediated by adiposity, highlighting the importance of tackling childhood obesity as a public health priority in view of the secular trend of declining age of puberty.

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“…Three previous studies from developed countries found that early maternal age of menarche (MAM) was associated with rapid infant growth and childhood obesity in offspring [8–10]. Another study also showed that women with earlier MAM were more likely to have overweight children at 4 to 5 years of age [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal age at menarche and offspring body mass index in childhood

et al. 2019

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Background Earlier age of menarche has been associated with an increased risk of chronic diseases during adulthood, but whether early menarche has intergenerational effect is not clear. Methods In this population-based cross-sectional study, we recruited children from 26 primary schools using cluster random probability sampling in Shanghai, China, in 2014. We used multiple linear regression models to estimate the adjusted associations of maternal age of menarche (MAM) with offspring body mass index (BMI). We also used the mediation analysis to examine the contribution of maternal BMI and gestational diabetes to offspring BMI. Results A total of 17,571 children aged 6–13 years were enrolled, of whom 16,373 had their weight and height measured. Earlier MAM was associated with higher child BMI in boys (− 0.05 z-score per year older MAM, 95% CI − 0.08 to − 0.02) and in girls (− 0.05 z-score per year older MAM, 95% CI − 0.07 to − 0.02). Maternal BMI positively mediated the association of MAM with offspring BMI in both sexes, with mediation effects of 37.7 and 19.4% for boys and girls, respectively. Conclusion Early maternal menarche was associated with greater offspring BMI. This study provides evidence for the intergenerational effect in the development of BMI in offspring. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12887-019-1659-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Brief Report

Abstract: These different patterns suggest drivers of adiposity and linear growth differ, and are more influential in some circumstances. Understanding these drivers may indicate setting-specific interventions to prevent childhood obesity.

Cited by 9 publications

References 26 publications

Life history trade-offs and the partitioning of maternal investment

Life history trade-offs and the partitioning of maternal investment

Maternal Age of Menarche and Blood Pressure in Adolescence: Evidence from Hong Kong’s “Children of 1997” Birth Cohort

Maternal age at menarche and offspring body mass index in childhood

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