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Race Disparities in Pubertal Timing: Implications for Cardiovascular Disease Risk Among African American Women

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Abstract

Compared to white girls, sexual maturation is accelerated in African American girls as measured by indicators of pubertal development, including age at first menses. Increasing epidemiological evidence suggests that the timing of pubertal development may have strong implications for cardio-metabolic health in adolescence and adulthood. In fact, younger menarcheal age has been related prospectively to poorer cardiovascular risk factor profiles, a worsening of these profiles over time, and an increase in risk for cardiovascular events, including non-fatal incident cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular-specific and all-cause mortality. Yet, because this literature has been limited almost exclusively to white girls/women, whether this same association is present among African American girls/women has not been clarified. In the current narrative review, the well-established vulnerability of African American girls to experience earlier pubertal onset is discussed as are findings from literatures examining the health outcomes of earlier pubertal timing and its antecedents, including early life adversity exposures often experienced disproportionately in African American girls. Gaps in these literatures are highlighted especially with respect to the paucity of research among minority girls/women, and a conceptual framework is posited suggesting disparities in pubertal timing between African American and white girls may partially contribute to well-established disparities in adulthood risk for cardio-metabolic disease between African American and white women. Future research in these areas may point to novel areas for intervention in preventing or lessening the heightened cardio-metabolic risk among African American women, an important public health objective.

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Funding

The preparation of this manuscript was supported by the sponsors of the meeting “How the Social Environment Gets Under the Skin – Developmental Perspectives” held on June 17–18, 2015 in Bethesda, MD, including the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) of the United Kingdom, and the Research Councils United Kingdom (RCUK); as well as the Grant NIH/NIA (K08 AG03575).

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  1. Department of Family and Child Nursing, University of Washington, Box 357262, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA

    Maria E. Bleil & Cathryn Booth-LaForce

  2. Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Box G1800, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Aprile D. Benner

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Bleil, M.E., Booth-LaForce, C. & Benner, A.D. Race Disparities in Pubertal Timing: Implications for Cardiovascular Disease Risk Among African American Women. Popul Res Policy Rev 36, 717–738 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-017-9441-5

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