Skip to main content

Delayed menarche in girls with chronic kidney disease and the association with short stature

Abstract

Background

Children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have delays in normal growth and pubertal development. We describe factors associated with delayed menarche and the association of delayed menarche with short stature in girls with CKD.

Methods

Two hundred eighty-seven girls with CKD onset prior to menarche within the Chronic Kidney Disease in Children (CKiD) cohort were studied. Delayed menarche was defined as menarche at age 15 years or older; short stature was defined as last available height 2 standard deviations below projected adult height. Kaplan-Meier cumulative incidence function was used to estimate median age at menarche. Chi-squared and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests were used to assess factors associated with delayed menarche. Chi-squared test was used to evaluate the association between delayed menarche and short stature.

Results

Among 287 girls, 68 enrolled with prevalent menarche, 131 were observed to have incident menarche, and 88 were pre-menarchal at their last study visit. Median age at menarche was 12 years. Ten percent had delayed menarche. African American race, lower estimated glomerular filtration rate, ever corticosteroid use, and longer CKD duration were associated with delayed menarche (p < 0.05). Girls with delayed menarche had lower height and weight percentiles at the time of menarche (p < 0.05). Sixty-one percent of girls with delayed menarche had short stature compared with only 35% of girls without delayed menarche (p = 0.03).

Conclusion

Median age at menarche is similar among girls with CKD and healthy girls. Ten percent of girls with CKD had delayed menarche and may be at risk for short stature.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Fig. 1

References

  1. Rodig NM et al (2014) Growth in children with chronic kidney disease: a report from the Chronic Kidney Disease in Children Study. Pediatr Nephrol 29(10):1987–1995

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Schaefer F et al (1990) Pubertal growth in chronic renal failure. Pediatr Res 28(1):5–10

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Haffner D, Zivicnjak M (2017) Pubertal development in children with chronic kidney disease. Pediatr Nephrol 32(6):949–964

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Ardissino G et al (2012) Puberty is associated with increased deterioration of renal function in patients with CKD: data from the ItalKid Project. Arch Dis Child 97(10):885–888

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Blakemore SJ, Burnett S, Dahl RE (2010) The role of puberty in the developing adolescent brain. Hum Brain Mapp 31(6):926–933

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Bonjour JP, Chevalley T (2014) Pubertal timing, bone acquisition, and risk of fracture throughout life. Endocr Rev 35(5):820–847

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Canoy D et al (2015) Age at menarche and risks of coronary heart and other vascular diseases in a large UK cohort. Circulation 131(3):237–244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Wolf RM, Long D (2016) Pubertal development. Pediatr Rev 37(7):292–300

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Bordini B, Rosenfield RL (2011) Normal pubertal development: part II: clinical aspects of puberty. Pediatr Rev 32(7):281–292

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Chumlea WC et al (2003) Age at menarche and racial comparisons in US girls. Pediatrics 111(1):110–113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. McDowell MA, Brody DJ, Hughes JP (2007) Has age at menarche changed? Results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2004. J Adolesc Health 40(3):227–231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Furth SL et al (2006) Design and methods of the Chronic Kidney Disease in Children (CKiD) prospective cohort study. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 1(5):1006–1015

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Schwartz GJ et al (2009) New equations to estimate GFR in children with CKD. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 20(3), 629-637

  14. Schwartz GJ et al (1976) A simple estimate of glomerular filtration rate in children derived from body length and plasma creatinine. Pediatrics 58(2):259–263

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Schwartz GJ et al (2012) Improved equations estimating GFR in children with chronic kidney disease using an immunonephelometric determination of cystatin C. Kidney Int 82(4):445–453

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Rose SR, Vogiatzi MG, Copeland KC (2005) A general pediatric approach to evaluating a short child. Pediatr Rev 26(11):410–420

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. StataCorp (2017) Stata Statistical Software: Release 15. StataCorp LLC: College Station

  18. Distiller LA et al (1975) Pituitary-gonadal function in chronic renal failure: the effect of luteinizing hormone--releasing hormone and the influence of dialysis. Metabolism 24(6):711–720

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Rathi M, Ramachandran R (2012) Sexual and gonadal dysfunction in chronic kidney disease: pathophysiology. Indian journal of endocrinology and metabolism, 16(2), 214.

  20. Kaplowitz PB et al (2001) Earlier onset of puberty in girls: relation to increased body mass index and race. Pediatrics 108(2):347–353

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Minnick ML et al (2010) Sex, race, and socioeconomic disparities in kidney disease in children. Semin Nephrol 30(1):26–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Moxey-Mims M (2018) Kidney disease in African American children: biological and nonbiological disparities. Am J Kidney Dis 72(5s1):S17–s21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Kao KT et al (2019) Pubertal abnormalities in adolescents with chronic disease. Best Pract Res Clin Endocrinol Metab 33(3):101275

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Uriarte MM et al (1992) The effect of pubertal delay on adult height in men with isolated hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 74(2):436–440

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Nakamoto JM (2000) Topics in Review: Myths and variations in normal pubertal development. Western Journal of Medicine, 172(3), 182

Download references

Funding

This work was supported by T32DK007732.

Author information

Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hannah S. Kim.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kim, H.S., Ng, D.K., Matheson, M.B. et al. Delayed menarche in girls with chronic kidney disease and the association with short stature. Pediatr Nephrol 35, 1471–1475 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-020-04559-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-020-04559-7

Keywords

  • Puberty
  • Menarche
  • Chronic kidney disease
  • Short stature
  • Growth
  • Height