Early puberty in 11-year-old girls: Millennium Cohort Study findings. Issue 3 (26th September 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kelly, Yvonne; Zilanawala, Afshin; Sacker, Amanda; Hiatt, Robert; Viner, Russell
• Is Part Of: Archives of disease in childhood. Volume 102:Issue 3(2017)
• Page Start: 232
• Page End: 237
• Publication Date: 2016-09-26
• Subjects: inequalities -- ethnicity -- socioeconomic -- menarche; Children -- Diseases -- Periodicals; Infants -- Diseases -- Periodicals; 618.920005
• DOI: 10.1136/archdischild-2016-310475
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0003-9888

Abstract

Abstract : Objective: Early puberty in girls is linked to some adverse outcomes in adolescence and mid-life. We address two research questions: (1) Are socioeconomic circumstances and ethnicity associated with early onset puberty? (2) Are adiposity and/or psychosocial stress associated with observed associations? Design: Longitudinal data on 5839 girls from the UK Millennium Cohort Study were used to estimate associations between ethnicity, family income, adiposity and psychosocial stress with a marker of puberty. Main outcome measure: Reported menstruation at age 11 years. Results: All quoted ORs are statistically significant. Girls in the poorest income quintile were twice as likely (OR=2.1), and the second poorest quintile nearly twice as likely (OR=1.9) to have begun menstruation compared with girls in the richest income quintile. Estimates were roughly halved on adjustment for Body Mass Index and markers of psychosocial stress (poorest, OR=1.5; second poorest, OR=1.5). Indian girls were over 3 times as likely compared with whites to have started menstruation (OR=3.5) and statistical adjustments did not attenuate estimates. The raised odds of menstruation for Pakistani (OR=1.9), Bangladeshi (OR=3.3) and black African (OR=3.0) girls were attenuated to varying extents, from about a third to a half, on adjustment for income and adiposity. Conclusions: In contemporary UK, excess adiposity and psychosocial stress were associated with social inequalities in early puberty, while material disadvantage and adiposity were linked to ethnic inequalities in early puberty among girls.