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Earlier maternal menarche is associated with shorter newborn telomere length

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Abstract

The aim of our study was to investigate the relationship between maternal age at menarche and newborn telomere length which has been linked to lifespan and many age-related diseases. There were 734 mother-newborn pairs recruited from Wuhan Children’s Hospital Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Age at menarche was self-reported and categorized into three groups (≤ 12 years, 13 years, and ≥ 14 years). Telomere length in cord blood was measured using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and expressed as the ratio of telomere copy number to single-copy gene number (T/S). The mean age at menarche of 734 mothers was 13.1 (± 1.1) years and the adjusted geometric means in the T/S of newborn telomeres in the three groups were 0.693, 0.721, and 0.748 respectively. Earlier age at menarche (≤ 12 years), compared with later age at menarche ≥ 14 years, was significantly associated with 7.32% (95% CI − 13.70%, − 0.23%) shorter telomere length in offspring after adjusting for potential confounders.

Conclusion: Mothers with earlier age at menarche were more likely to give birth newborn with shorter telomere length. Our study provides evidences for the effect of earlier menarche on fetal telomere programming in offspring.

What is Known:

• Newborn telomere length is considered an indicator of lifespan and health outcomes in later life.

• The adverse effects of earlier menarche age to their offspring have been found, but its relationship with newborn telomere length has not been assessed before.

What is New:

• This is the first study to explore the relationship of maternal menarche age with newborn telomere length.

• We provided primary evidence that earlier maternal age at menarche was associated with shorter newborn telomere length.

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Abbreviations

ANCOVA:

Analysis of covariance

BMI:

Body mass index

qPCR:

Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

TL:

Telomere length

T/S:

Telomere copy number/single-copy gene number

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Acknowledgments

We thank all the participants that joined the Cohort, staffs of the Women and Children Medical and Healthcare Center of Wuhan, and researchers from Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.

Funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81273083, 91643207) and the Hubei Province Health & Family Planning Scientific Research Project (WJ2017Z001).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, HangKong Road 13, Wuhan, 430030, Hubei, China

    Wang Lulin, Song Lulu, Liu Bingqing, Zhang Lina, Wu Mingyang, Tian Yaohua & Wang Youjie

  2. Key Laboratory of Environment and Health, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Environmental Protection, and State Key Laboratory of Environmental Health (Incubation), School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China

    Wang Lulin, Song Lulu, Liu Bingqing, Zhang Lina, Wu Mingyang, Xia Wei, Li Yuanyuan, Xu Shunqing, Tian Yaohua & Wang Youjie

  3. Wuhan Children’s Hospital (Wuhan Maternal and Child Healthcare Hospital), Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China

    Xiong Chao, Cao Zhongqiang & Zhang Bin

Authors
  1. Wang Lulin
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  13. Wang Youjie
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Contributions

Wang Youjie, Xu Shunqing, Tian Yaohua, and Zhang Bin designed the study and reviewed the manuscript. Cao Zhongqiang, Xiong Chao, Xia Wei, and Li Yuanyuan assisted in the study design and the implementation of the study. Zhang Lina, Wu Mingyang, Song Lulu, and Liu Bingqing participated in the implementation and critically reviewed the manuscript for important intellectual content. Wang Lulin drafted the initial manuscript and revised the manuscript. All authors approved the final manuscript as submitted and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wang Youjie.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

The study protocol was approved by the ethics committee of the Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (No. S152), and the Wuhan Children’s Hospital (Wuhan Maternal and Child Healthcare Hospital) (No. 2016003). Individual written informed consent was obtained from all participating mothers at enrollment.

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Communicated by Patrick Van Reempts

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Wang, L., Song, L., Liu, B. et al. Earlier maternal menarche is associated with shorter newborn telomere length. Eur J Pediatr 179, 1507–1513 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-020-03621-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-020-03621-8

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