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Early menarche is associated with metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance in premenopausal Korean women

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Abstract

In pediatrics, identifying risk factors is important in planning the prevention of cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to determine whether there is an independent association between early menarche (<12 years) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in Korean women. We analyzed data from 4463 premenopausal women from the Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey-IV (2007–2009). MetS was defined by the International Diabetes Federation for Asians and insulin resistance (IR) was defined as HOMA-IR more than 3.05. The prevalence of MetS and IR was 7.9 and 15.0 %. Women (55.6 %) with MetS also showed IR. The prevalence of MetS was higher in both women with early menarche and late menarche (≥16 years) compared with the reference group (early, 12.8 %; reference, 7.0 %; late, 11.0 %, both P = 0.002). However, the odds ratio for MetS was 3.54 (95 % confidence interval (CI), 2.14–5.87) and for IR was 2.98 (95 % CI, 1.99–4.47) after adjusting for age and other confounders such as lifestyle variables, reproductive variables and sociodemographic variables only in women with early menarche

Conclusion: Early menarche was associated with an increased risk of MetS and IR in premenopausal Korean women.

What is Known:

• Early menarche is associated with higher risk of CVD-related death and all-cause mortality in Western studies.

• Early menarche is associated with higher risk of diabetes in Korean premenopausal women.

What is New:

• Early menarche (<12 years) is associated with metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance in nationally representative Korean premenopausal women.

• However, late menarche (>16 years) is not associated with metabolic syndrome after controlling for age and other confounders.

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Abbreviations

BP:

Blood pressure

CVD:

Cardiovascular disease

KNHANES-IV:

Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

HDL-C:

High-density lipoprotein cholesterol

HOMA-IR:

Homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance

IR:

Insulin resistance

IDF:

International Diabetes Federation

MetS:

Metabolic syndrome

SHBG:

Sex-hormone-binding globulin

TG:

Triglyceride

WC:

Waist circumference

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Acknowledgments

We thank Sanghui Kweon from the Division of Health and Nutrition Survey for her technical support in analyzing the data.

Conflict of interest

The authors who have taken part in this study declared that they do not have anything to disclose regarding funding or conflict of interest with respect to this manuscript.

Ethics committee

The Research Ethics Committee of the Korea Centers for Disease Control approved the study protocol (No: 2007-02CON-04-P, 2008-04EXP-01-C, and 2009-01CON-03-2C), and all participants or their parents signed a written informed consent form.

Author’s contributions

The following authors have designed the study (Se Won Lim and Jung Sub Lim), gathered the data (Jun Ah Lee, Dong Ho Kim, and Juhee Seo), analyzed the data (Se Won Lim and Jung Sub Lim), wrote the initial drafts (Juhee Seo, Se Won Lim, Jung Sub Lim, and Ju Hyun Ahn), and ensure the accuracy of the data and analysis (Se Won Lim, Jung Sub Lim, Jun Ah Lee, and Dong Ho Kim).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Korea Cancer Center Hospital, 15 Gongneungdong, Nowon-gu, Seoul, 139-706, Republic of Korea

    Se Won Lim, Ju Hyun Ahn, Jun Ah Lee, Dong Ho Kim, Ju-Hee Seo & Jung Sub Lim

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  1. Se Won Lim
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jung Sub Lim.

Additional information

Communicated by Beat Steinmann

Revisions received: 14 July 2015/20 July 2015

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Lim, S.W., Ahn, J.H., Lee, J.A. et al. Early menarche is associated with metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance in premenopausal Korean women. Eur J Pediatr 175, 97–104 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-015-2604-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-015-2604-7

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