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

Tsz Chun Lai, Gabriel Matthew Leung and C Mary Schooling

PLOS ONE, 2016, vol. 11, issue 7, 1-10

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0159855

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0159855

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