Timing of Pubertal Development Tied to Adult Cardiometabolic Risk

WEDNESDAY, March 27, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Pubertal development and its timing may be an important pathway through which early-life exposures shape adulthood cardiometabolic health and disease, according to a study published online March 27 in PLOS ONE.

Maria E. Bleil, Ph.D., from the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues evaluated a series of prospective life course models to test whether the timing of pubertal development is a pathway through which prepubertal risk factors may influence adulthood cardiometabolic risk (CMR). Analysis included 655 female participants in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development with 30-year follow-up.

The researchers found that later breast development onset, later pubic hair onset, and later menarche each predicted lower adulthood CMR. Each pubertal timing indicator mediated effects of prepubertal risk factors on adulthood CMR. For example, the timing of breast development onset and menarche mediated effects of maternal menarcheal age, Black and Asian/Pacific Islander race (versus White), child body mass index percentile, and child socioeconomic status on adulthood CMR. Furthermore, the timing of pubic hair onset mediated effects of maternal menarcheal age, Black race (versus White), and child body mass index percentile on adulthood CMR.

"These findings have important implications for novel opportunities for increased surveillance and potential intervention focusing on pubertal development as a target to improve health more broadly," the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text