Association of maternal menarcheal age with anthropometric dimensions and blood pressure in children from Greater Bilbao

Cohort-based analysis of maternal age at menarche in relation to young adult offspring anthropometric and metabolic parameters

OBJECTIVES

Age of menarche is a determinant factor of cardiometabolic risk, adiposity and stature at adulthood. However, little is known about the transgenerational effects of age of menarche, especially beyond childhood of any offspring, and the studies remain limited to anthropometric outcomes in children at birth or before adolescence. In the present study, we aim to investigate the relationship of maternal age at menarche (MAM) with anthropometric and metabolic parameters in the young adult offspring (aged 15-35 years) in a Persian population.

DESIGN, PATIENTS AND MEASUREMENTS

In this cohort-based cross-sectional study, we recruited 1139 mother-young adult dyads enroled in Rafsanjan Cohort Study (RCS) at adult RCS (aged 35-70 years) and youth RCS (aged 15-35 years) as part of the comprehensive PERSIAN (Prospective Epidemiological Research Studies in IrAN). In this study, MAM was categorized to early (MAM < 12 years), normal (12 ≤ MAM ≤ 14) and late menarche (MAM > 14 years). For these analyses, bivariate and multiple logistic regression models were used to investigate the relationships between late or early MAM and offspring anthropometric and metabolic parameters.

RESULTS

Early MAM displayed a significant association with an increased odds ratio (OR) of tall stature adjusting for sex, age, socioeconomic status index, maternal age at birth and maternal height (as genetically determined factor). Sensitivity analysis by sex indicated this relationship to be specific to male offspring only (adjusted OR: 1.84 95% CI: 1.13-3.00, p value: .014). In addition, late MAM displayed a significant association with reduced OR of overweight/obesity and abdominal obesity in daughters only (obesity adjusted OR: 0.49, 95% CI: 0.27-0.88, p value: .018, abdominal obesity adjusted OR: 0.44, 95% CI: 0.23-0.82, p value: .010). dose-response analysis by categorization of MAM, further supported our results. On the contrary, our analyses do not support a significant relationship between MAM and youth metabolic indices, that is, metabolic syndrome, fasting blood sugar (FBS), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and triglyceride (TG).

CONCLUSIONS

The results of the present study indicate an association of maternal age of menarche with anthropometric measures of offspring in young adulthood in a sex differential manner. The data does not support a significant relationship between the metabolic indices FBS, TG and HDL in offspring with MAM. Overall, this study provides evidence for the intergenerational effects of age at menarche in the development of anthropometric measures in offspring in young adulthood (15-35), which is the first study of this kind in this age range.

Earlier maternal menarche is associated with shorter newborn telomere length

The aim of our study was to investigate the relationship between maternal age at menarche and newborn telomere length which has been linked to lifespan and many age-related diseases. There were 734 mother-newborn pairs recruited from Wuhan Children's Hospital Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Age at menarche was self-reported and categorized into three groups (≤ 12 years, 13 years, and ≥ 14 years). Telomere length in cord blood was measured using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and expressed as the ratio of telomere copy number to single-copy gene number (T/S). The mean age at menarche of 734 mothers was 13.1 (± 1.1) years and the adjusted geometric means in the T/S of newborn telomeres in the three groups were 0.693, 0.721, and 0.748 respectively. Earlier age at menarche (≤ 12 years), compared with later age at menarche ≥ 14 years, was significantly associated with 7.32% (95% CI - 13.70%, - 0.23%) shorter telomere length in offspring after adjusting for potential confounders.Conclusion: Mothers with earlier age at menarche were more likely to give birth newborn with shorter telomere length. Our study provides evidences for the effect of earlier menarche on fetal telomere programming in offspring. What is Known: • Newborn telomere length is considered an indicator of lifespan and health outcomes in later life. • The adverse effects of earlier menarche age to their offspring have been found, but its relationship with newborn telomere length has not been assessed before. What is New: • This is the first study to explore the relationship of maternal menarche age with newborn telomere length. • We provided primary evidence that earlier maternal age at menarche was associated with shorter newborn telomere length.

Associations between maternal age at menarche and anthropometric and metabolic parameters in the adolescent offspring

OBJECTIVE

We examined the associations between maternal age at menarche and anthropometry and metabolism in adolescent offspring.

METHODS

Anthropometric, metabolic and blood pressure data were obtained from 304 girls and 190 boys aged 11-16 years attending school in Hangzhou (China). Age at menarche for both mothers and daughters was self-reported. Fasting blood samples were obtained and all participants underwent clinical examinations. Obesity was defined as BMI ≥95th percentile for age and sex.

RESULTS

Older maternal age at menarche was associated with older age of their daughters at menarche (r = 0.21; P < 0.001). Mother's age at menarche was not associated with anthropometry or metabolism of daughters. However, younger maternal age at menarche was associated with increased hip and waist circumferences, and BMI SDS of their sons. Boys whose mothers were ≤13 years at menarche had an adjusted relative risk of obesity 3-fold greater than sons of mothers with a later menarcheal onset (2.96; 95% CI 1.49, 5.87). Among daughters, every 1-year increase in their age at menarche was associated with a 0.34 SDS reduction in BMI. Increasing age at menarche was also associated with reduced waist and hip circumferences (-1.5 and -1.8 cm/y, respectively) and waist-to-height ratio (-0.008 per year). Girls in the youngest menarcheal age tertile (8.8-11.6 years) had diastolic blood pressure 2.2 mm Hg higher than other girls (P = 0.029).

CONCLUSIONS

Younger maternal age at menarche is associated with increased obesity risk in their sons, but not daughters. However, girls who experience menarche earlier have a less favourable anthropometric profile.

Life history trade-offs and the partitioning of maternal investment: Implications for health of mothers and offspring

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.

Maternal Age of Menarche and Blood Pressure in Adolescence: Evidence from Hong Kong's "Children of 1997" Birth Cohort

Background

Age 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.

Methods

We 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.

Results

Earlier 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.

Conclusion

Earlier 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.