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Maternal and pediatric nutrition

Early menarche in normal-weight girls and its association with excess weight, abdominal obesity and metabolic changes at the end of sexual maturation

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Abstract

Background/Objectives:

The objective of this study was to assess whether early menarche in normal-weight girls is associated with excess weight, abdominal obesity and metabolic changes at the end of sexual maturation.

Subjects/Methods:

This is a cohort study of 255 normal-weight girls aged 10–18 years attending public schools in the city of Recife, Pernambuco, Northeast of Brazil. The following data were collected in 2007 and 2012: anthropometric; lifestyle, socioeconomic and demographic data; lipid profile; and self-assessed sexual maturation.

Results:

Eighty-four girls (32.9%) had early menarche. The socioeconomic level and time spent using a computer increased during this 5-year period, whereas the time spent watching television decreased. The prevalences of excess weight and abdominal obesity were 19.2% and 9.8%, respectively. The anthropometric and laboratory variables of girls with and without early menarche did not differ.

Conclusions:

These findings suggest that early menarche did not influence weight, abdominal obesity and serum lipids in the final stage of sexual maturation.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all adolescents who participated in the study as they made the study possible.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil

    M L D Araújo & G Q Morais

  2. Department of Nutrition, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil

    P C Cabral, I K G de Arruda, A Silva Diniz & M da Conceição Chaves de Lemos

Authors
  1. M L D Araújo
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  2. P C Cabral
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  3. I K G de Arruda
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  4. A Silva Diniz
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  5. M da Conceição Chaves de Lemos
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to M L D Araújo.

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Araújo, M., Cabral, P., de Arruda, I. et al. Early menarche in normal-weight girls and its association with excess weight, abdominal obesity and metabolic changes at the end of sexual maturation. Eur J Clin Nutr 70, 1278–1284 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2016.103

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