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Obesity, central obesity increase precocious puberty risk
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The risk for precocious puberty may be increased with childhood obesity and/or central obesity; the risk is more pronounced in girls than boys, according to findings from China published in BMJ Open.
Shijian Liu, PhD, of the School of Public Health, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Pediatric Translational Medicine Institute, Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, both in China, and colleagues evaluated data from the Shanghai Children’s Health, Education and Lifestyle Evaluation study, collected in June 2014, on 15,937 Chinese children (53.62% boys) aged 6 to 12 years to determine the relationship between precocious puberty and obesity and central obesity.
WHO Child Growth Standards were used to define obesity; central obesity was defined by sex-specific waist-to-height ratio cutoffs ( 0.48 in boys; 0.46 for girls); and Tanner stage of breast, pubic hair and testicle development was used to define precocious puberty.
Boys had a higher prevalence of obesity (boys, 18.61% vs. girls, 5.63%) and central obesity (28.65% vs. 13.09%) compared with girls (P < .001).
Overall, 25.98% of boys and 13.86% of girls with precocious puberty had obesity. The risk for precocious puberty increased with childhood obesity, and the risk was higher in girls (OR = 9; 95% CI, 5.6-14.46) compared with boys (OR = 2.15; 95% CI, 1.31-3.5).
Central obesity was found in 38.58% of boys and 29.42% of girls with precocious puberty, and central obesity had a similar effect on precocious puberty compared with obesity (boys, OR = 2.1; 95% CI, 1.46-3.03; girls, OR = 5.4; 95% CI, 4.1-7.12).
Children with central obesity had decreased median ages of breast, pubic hair and testicle development with BMI increases. Median ages of thelarche and testicular development were earlier compared with pubarche in participants with central obesity.
“We observed that the pubertal timing of breast and pubic hair decreased with BMI as [waist-to-height ratio] increased in girls, and testicular volume decreased but pubic hair increased as BMI and [waist-to-height ratio] increased in boys,” the researchers wrote. “We also found earlier median age of thelarche and testicular development rather than pubarche in children with central obesity. Children with obesity are more vulnerable to psychological problems beyond physical influence while early puberty undoubtedly strengthens these problems. Further, children with obesity may need special attention regarding puberty knowledge and mental health in school education. We hope our findings will serve as a reference for future research investigating the mechanisms and causal effects of precocious puberty and obesity, leading to the development of approaches to analyzing precocious puberty in clinical settings.” – by Amber Cox
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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