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      Age at Puberty and the Emerging Obesity Epidemic

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          Abstract

          Background

          Recent studies have shown that puberty starts at younger ages than previously. It has been hypothesized that the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity is contributing to this trend. The purpose of this study was to analyze the association between prepubertal body mass index (BMI) and pubertal timing, as assessed by age at onset of pubertal growth spurt (OGS) and at peak height velocity (PHV), and the secular trend of pubertal timing given the prepubertal BMI.

          Methodology/Principal Findings

          Annual measurements of height and weight were available in all children born from 1930 to 1969 who attended primary school in the Copenhagen municipality; 156,835 children fulfilled the criteria for determining age at OGS and PHV. The effect of prepubertal BMI at age seven on these markers of pubertal development within and between birth cohorts was analyzed. BMI at seven years was significantly inversely associated with age at OGS and PHV. Dividing the children into five levels of prepubertal BMI, we found a similar secular trend toward earlier maturation in all BMI groups.

          Conclusion/Significance

          The heavier both boys and girls were at age seven, the earlier they entered puberty. Irrespective of level of BMI at age seven, there was a downward trend in the age at attaining puberty in both boys and girls, which suggests that the obesity epidemic is not solely responsible for the trend.

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          Most cited references40

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          Prevention of pediatric overweight and obesity.

          Nancy F Krebs, Marc S Jacobson (2003)
          The dramatic increase in the prevalence of childhood overweight and its resultant comorbidities are associated with significant health and financial burdens, warranting strong and comprehensive prevention efforts. This statement proposes strategies for early identification of excessive weight gain by using body mass index, for dietary and physical activity interventions during health supervision encounters, and for advocacy and research.
          Article 0 comments Cited 171 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
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            Examination of US puberty-timing data from 1940 to 1994 for secular trends: panel findings.

            Michelle M. Giddens, P Lee, Shanna Swan … (2008)
            Whether children, especially girls, are entering and progressing through puberty earlier today than in the mid-1900s has been debated. Secular trend analysis, based on available data, is limited by data comparability among studies in different populations, in different periods of time, and using different methods. As a result, conclusions from data comparisons have not been consistent. An expert panel was asked to evaluate the weight of evidence for whether the data, collected from 1940 to 1994, are sufficient to suggest or establish a secular trend in the timing of puberty markers in US boys or girls. A majority of the panelists agreed that data are sufficient to suggest a trend toward an earlier breast development onset and menarche in girls but not for other female pubertal markers. A minority of panelists concluded that the current data on girls' puberty timing for any marker are insufficient. Almost all panelists concluded, on the basis of few studies and reliability issues of some male puberty markers, that current data for boys are insufficient to evaluate secular trends in male pubertal development. The panel agreed that altered puberty timing should be considered an adverse effect, although the magnitude of change considered adverse was not assessed. The panel recommended (1) additional analyses of existing puberty-timing data to examine secular trends and trends in the temporal sequence of pubertal events; (2) the development of biomarkers for pubertal timing and methods to discriminate fat versus breast tissue, and (3) establishment of cohorts to examine pubertal markers longitudinally within the same individuals.
            Article 0 comments Cited 160 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
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              Bmi in childhood and its association with height gain, timing of puberty, and final height.

              Qiushui He, J Karlberg (2001)
              No large population-based study has addressed the question of how overnutrition is related to subsequent height gain in childhood, timing of puberty, and final height. The present data represent a large Swedish population-based longitudinal growth study. Height gain in childhood, timing of reaching peak height velocity and height gain during adolescence, and final height were regarded as the short-term, interim, and long-term outcomes of childhood nutritional status, i.e. body mass index (BMI) change between 2 and 8 y. Midparental height was adjusted as the genetic influence on linear growth of the child. Childhood BMI gain was related to an increased height gain during the same period, i.e. an increase of 1 BMI unit was associated with an increase in height of 0.23 cm in boys and 0.29 cm in girls. A higher BMI gain in childhood was related to an earlier onset of puberty; the impact on the timing of puberty was 0.6 y in boys and 0.7 y in girls. Each increased unit of BMI gain in childhood also reduced the height gain in adolescence, 0.88 cm for boys and 0.51 cm for girls. No direct correlation was shown between childhood BMI gain and final height. We conclude that overnutrition between 2 and 8 y of age will not be beneficial from a final height point of view, as the temporary increase in height gain in childhood will be compensated by an earlier pubertal maturity and a subnormal height gain in adolescence.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                : Role: Editor
                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): PLoS One
                Journal ID (publisher-id): plos
                Journal ID (pmc): plosone
                Title: PLoS ONE
                Publisher: Public Library of Science (San Francisco, USA )
                ISSN (Electronic): 1932-6203
                Publication date Collection: 2009
                Publication date (Electronic): 24 December 2009
                Volume: 4
                Issue: 12
                Electronic Location Identifier: e8450
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Department of Growth and Reproduction, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
                [2 ]Institute of Preventive Medicine, Centre for Health and Society, Copenhagen, Denmark
                University of Córdoba, Spain
                Author notes

                Conceived and designed the experiments: LA LWO AJ TIAS. Performed the experiments: LA LWO AJ TIAS. Analyzed the data: LA LWO AJ TIAS. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: LA LWO AJ TIAS. Wrote the paper: LA AJ TIAS. Contributed to the development of the definitions and criteria for determining OGS and PHV: LA LWO AJ. Contributed to the validation of the method: LA LWO. Contributed to the conception of the present study: AJ TIAS. Initiated and built the School Health Record Register: TIAS.

                Article
                Publisher ID: 09-PONE-RA-13759R1
                DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008450
                PMC ID: 2793517
                PubMed ID: 20041184
                SO-VID: 85b2430a-6211-4cb3-bdb3-7ecaedc89655
                Copyright © Aksglaede et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
                History
                Date received : 23 October 2009
                Date accepted : 19 November 2009
                Page count
                Pages: 6
                Categories
                Subject: Research Article
                Subject: Diabetes and Endocrinology/Obesity
                Subject: Diabetes and Endocrinology/Reproductive Endocrinology
                Subject: Pediatrics and Child Health/Child Development

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Uncategorized
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                ScienceOpen disciplines: Uncategorized

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