Abstract
Life course theory suggests that early life experiences can shape health over a lifetime and across generations. Associations between maternal pregnancy experience and daughters’ age at menarche are not well understood. We examined whether maternal pre-pregnancy BMI and gestational weight gain (GWG) were independently related to daughters’ age at menarche. Consistent with a life course perspective, we also examined whether maternal GWG, birth weight, and prepubertal BMI mediated the relationship between pre-pregnancy BMI and daughter’s menarcheal age. We examined 2,497 mother-daughter pairs from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Survival analysis with Cox proportional hazards was used to estimate whether maternal pre-pregnancy overweight/obesity (BMI ≥ 25.0 kg/m2) and GWG adequacy (inadequate, recommended, and excessive) were associated with risk for earlier menarche among girls, controlling for important covariates. Analyses were conducted to examine the mediating roles of GWG adequacy, child birth weight and prepubertal BMI. Adjusting for covariates, pre-pregnancy overweight/obesity (HR = 1.20, 95 % CI 1.06, 1.36) and excess GWG (HR = 1.13, 95 % CI 1.01, 1.27) were associated with daughters’ earlier menarche, while inadequate GWG was not. The association between maternal pre-pregnancy weight and daughters’ menarcheal timing was not mediated by daughter’s birth weight, prepubertal BMI or maternal GWG. Maternal factors, before and during pregnancy, are potentially important determinants of daughters’ menarcheal timing and are amenable to intervention. Further research is needed to better understand pathways through which these factors operate.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Karlberg, J. (2002). Secular trends in pubertal development. Hormone Research, 57(Suppl 2), 19–30.
Herman-Giddens, M. E. (2006). Recent data on pubertal milestones in United States children: The secular trend toward earlier development. International Journal of Andrology, 29(1), 241–246. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2605.2005.00575.x. (discussion 86–90).
Anderson, S. E., & Must, A. (2005). Interpreting the continued decline in the average age at menarche: Results from two nationally representative surveys of U.S. girls studied 10 years apart. Journal of Pediatrics, 147(6), 753–760. doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2005.07.016.
Anderson, S. E., Dallal, G. E., & Must, A. (2003). Relative weight and race influence average age at menarche: Results from two nationally representative surveys of US girls studied 25 years apart. Pediatrics, 111(4 Pt 1), 844–850.
Euling, S. Y., Herman-Giddens, M. E., Lee, P. A., et al. (2008). Examination of US puberty-timing data from 1940 to 1994 for secular trends: Panel findings. Pediatrics, 121(Suppl 3), S172–S191. doi:10.1542/peds.2007-1813D.
Freedman, D. S., Khan, L. K., Serdula, M. K., et al. (2002). Relation of age at menarche to race, time period, and anthropometric dimensions: The Bogalusa Heart Study. Pediatrics, 110(4), e43.
Braithwaite, D., Moore, D. H., Lustig, R. H., et al. (2009). Socioeconomic status in relation to early menarche among black and white girls. Cancer Causes and Control, 20(5), 713–720. doi:10.1007/s10552-008-9284-9.
Chumlea, W. C., Schubert, C. M., Roche, A. F., et al. (2003). Age at menarche and racial comparisons in US girls. Pediatrics, 111(1), 110–113.
Herman-Giddens, M. E., Slora, E. J., Wasserman, R. C., et al. (1997). Secondary sexual characteristics and menses in young girls seen in office practice: A study from the Pediatric Research in Office Settings network. Pediatrics, 99(4), 505–512.
Lu, M. C., & Halfon, N. (2003). Racial and ethnic disparities in birth outcomes: A life-course perspective. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 7(1), 13–30.
Braveman, P., & Barclay, C. (2009). Health disparities beginning in childhood: A life-course perspective. Pediatrics, 124(Suppl 3), S163–S175. doi:10.1542/peds.2009-1100D.
Halfon, N., & Hochstein, M. (2002). Life course health development: An integrated framework for developing health, policy, and research. Milbank Quarterly, 80(3), 433–479. (iii).
Shonkoff, J. P., Boyce, W. T., & McEwen, B. S. (2009). Neuroscience, molecular biology, and the childhood roots of health disparities: Building a new framework for health promotion and disease prevention. JAMA, 301(21), 2252–2259.
Berkey, C. S., Frazier, A. L., Gardner, J. D., et al. (1999). Adolescence and breast carcinoma risk. Cancer, 85(11), 2400–2409. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0142(19990601)85:11<2400:AID-CNCR15>3.0.CO;2-O.
Kelsey, J. L., Gammon, M. D., & John, E. M. (1993). Reproductive factors and breast cancer. Epidemiologic Reviews, 15(1), 36–47.
Magnusson, C. M., Persson, I. R., Baron, J. A., et al. (1999). The role of reproductive factors and use of oral contraceptives in the aetiology of breast cancer in women aged 50 to 74 years. International Journal of Cancer, 80(2), 231–236. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0215(19990118)80:2<231:AID-IJC11>3.0.CO;2-R.
Rockhill, B., Moorman, P. G., & Newman, B. (1998). Age at menarche, time to regular cycling, and breast cancer (North Carolina, United States). Cancer Causes and Control, 9(4), 447–453.
Lakshman, R., Forouhi, N. G., Sharp, S. J., et al. (2009). Early age at menarche associated with cardiovascular disease and mortality. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 94(12), 4953–4960. doi:10.1210/jc.2009-1789.
Jacobsen, B. K., Oda, K., Knutsen, S. F., et al. (2009). Age at menarche, total mortality and mortality from ischaemic heart disease and stroke: The Adventist Health Study, 1976–88. International Journal of Epidemiology, 38(1), 245–252. doi:10.1093/ije/dyn251.
Chen, X., & Wang, Y. (2009). The influence of sexual maturation on blood pressure and body fatness in African-American adolescent girls and boys. American Jouranl of Human Biology, 21(1), 105–112. doi:10.1002/ajhb.20832.
Jacobsen, B. K., Heuch, I., & Kvale, G. (2007). Association of low age at menarche with increased all-cause mortality: A 37-year follow-up of 61,319 Norwegian women. American Journal of Epidemiology, 166(12), 1431–1437. doi:10.1093/aje/kwm237.
Deardorff, J., Gonzales, N. A., Christopher, F. S., et al. (2005). Early puberty and adolescent pregnancy: The influence of alcohol use. Pediatrics, 116(6), 1451–1456. doi:10.1542/peds.2005-0542.
Harlow, B. L., Cohen, L. S., Otto, M. W., et al. (2004). Early life menstrual characteristics and pregnancy experiences among women with and without major depression: The Harvard study of moods and cycles. Journal of Affective Disorders, 79(1–3), 167–176. doi:10.1016/S0165-0327(02)00459-7.
Dunger, D. B., Ahmed, M. L., & Ong, K. K. (2006). Early and late weight gain and the timing of puberty. Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, 254–255, 140–145. doi:10.1016/j.mce.2006.04.003.
Ong, K. K., Emmett, P., Northstone, K., et al. (2009). Infancy weight gain predicts childhood body fat and age at menarche in girls. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 94(5), 1527–1532. doi:10.1210/jc.2008-2489.
dos Santos, Silva I., De Stavola, B. L., Mann, V., et al. (2002). Prenatal factors, childhood growth trajectories and age at menarche. International Journal of Epidemiology, 31(2), 405–412.
Biro, F. M., Khoury, P., & Morrison, J. A. (2006). Influence of obesity on timing of puberty. International Journal of Andrology, 29(1), 272–277. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2605.2005.00602.x. (discussion 86–90).
Wang, Y. (2002). Is obesity associated with early sexual maturation? A comparison of the association in American boys versus girls. Pediatrics, 110(5), 903–910.
Cooper, C., Kuh, D., Egger, P., et al. (1996). Childhood growth and age at menarche. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 103(8), 814–817.
Barker, D. J. (1993). Fetal origins of coronary heart disease. British Medical Journal, 69(3), 195–196.
Rich-Edwards, J. W., Stampfer, M. J., Manson, J. E., et al. (1997). Birth weight and risk of cardiovascular disease in a cohort of women followed up since 1976. British Medical Journal, 315(7105), 396–400.
Kensara, O. A., Wootton, S. A., Phillips, D. I., et al. (2005). Fetal programming of body composition: Relation between birth weight and body composition measured with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and anthropometric methods in older Englishmen. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 82(5), 980–987.
Heerwagen, M. J., Miller, M. R., Barbour, L. A., et al. (2010). Maternal obesity and fetal metabolic programming: A fertile epigenetic soil. American Journal of Physiology Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 299(3), R711–R722. doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00310.2010.
Keim, S. A., Branum, A. M., Klebanoff, M. A., et al. (2009). Maternal body mass index and daughters’ age at menarche. Epidemiology, 20(5), 677–681. doi:10.1097/EDE.0b013e3181b093ce.
Boynton-Jarrett, R., Rich-Edwards, J., Fredman, L., et al. (2011) Gestational weight gain and daughter’s age at Menarche. Journal of Womens Health. doi:10.1089/jwh.2010.2517.
Reagan, P. B., Salsberry, P. J., Fang, M. Z., et al. (2012). African-American/white differences in the age of menarche: Accounting for the difference. Social Science and Medicine. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.05.018.
Negy, C., & Snyder, D. K. (2006). Assessing family-of-origin functioning in Mexican American adults: Retrospective application of the Family Environment Scale. Assessment, 13(4), 396–405.
Posner, R. B. (2006). Early menarche: A review of research on trends in timing, racial differences. Etiology and psychosocial consequences. Sex Roles, 54, 315–322.
World Health Organization. (2000). Obesity: Preventing and managing the global epidemic. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.
Bodnar, L. M., Siega-Riz, A. M., Arab, L., et al. (2004). Predictors of pregnancy and postpartum haemoglobin concentrations in low-income women. Public Health Nutrition, 7(6), 701–711.
Bodnar, L. M., Siega-Riz, A. M., Simhan, H. N., et al. (2010). Severe obesity, gestational weight gain, and adverse birth outcomes. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 91(6), 1642–1648. doi:10.3945/ajcn.2009.29008.
Siega-Riz, A. M., Adair, L. S., & Hobel, C. J. (1996). Maternal underweight status and inadequate rate of weight gain during the third trimester of pregnancy increases the risk of preterm delivery. Journal of Nutrition, 126(1), 146–153.
Institute of Medicine FaNB. (2009). Weight gain during pregnancy: Reexamining the guidelines. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Cooper, R., Blell, M., Hardy, R., et al. (2006). Validity of age at menarche self-reported in adulthood. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 60(11), 993–997. doi:10.1136/jech.2005.043182.
Damon, A., & Bajema, C. J. (1974). Age at menarche: Accuracy of recall after thirty-nine years. Human Biology, 46(3), 381–384.
Dewey, K. G. (2003). Is breastfeeding protective against child obesity? Journal of Human Lactation, 19(1), 9–18.
Windham, G. C., Bottomley, C., Birner, C., et al. (2004). Age at menarche in relation to maternal use of tobacco, alcohol, coffee, and tea during pregnancy. American Journal of Epidemiology, 159(9), 862–871.
Shrestha, A., Nohr, E. A., Bech, B. H., et al. (2011). Smoking and alcohol use during pregnancy and age of menarche in daughters. Human Reproduction, 26(1), 259–265. doi:10.1093/humrep/deq316.
Adair, L. S. (2001). Size at birth predicts age at menarche. Pediatrics, 107(4), E59.
Alexander, G. R., Himes, J. H., Kaufman, R. B., et al. (1996). A United States national reference for fetal growth. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 87(2), 163–168. doi:10.1016/0029-7844(95)00386-X.
Reich, W., & Earls, F. (1990). Interviewing adolescents by telephone: Is it a useful methodological strategy? Comprehen Psychiatry, 31(3), 211–215.
StataCorp. (2009). Survey data reference manual: release 11. College Station, TX: StataCorp LP.
Siega-Riz, A. M., & Laraia, B. (2006). The implications of maternal overweight and obesity on the course of pregnancy and birth outcomes. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 10(5 Suppl), S153–S156. doi:10.1007/s10995-006-0115-x.
Blum, W. F., Englaro, P., Hanitsch, S., et al. (1997). Plasma leptin levels in healthy children and adolescents: Dependence on body mass index, body fat mass, gender, pubertal stage, and testosterone. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 82(9), 2904–2910.
Wong, W. W., Nicolson, M., Stuff, J. E., et al. (1998). Serum leptin concentrations in Caucasian and African-American girls. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 83(10), 3574–3577.
Ong, K. K., Ahmed, M. L., Sherriff, A., et al. (1999). Cord blood leptin is associated with size at birth and predicts infancy weight gain in humans. ALSPAC Study Team. Avon Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 84(3), 1145–1148.
Bodnar, L. M., Siega-Riz, A. M., Simhan, H. N., et al. (2010). The impact of exposure misclassification on associations between prepregnancy BMI and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Obesity, 18(11), 2184–2190.
Stuebe, A. M., Oken, E., & Gillman, M. W. (2009). Associations of diet and physical activity during pregnancy with risk for excessive gestational weight gain. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 201(1), 58e1–58e18. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2009.02.025.
Brawarsky, P., Stotland, N. E., Jackson, R. A., et al. (2005). Pre-pregnancy and pregnancy-related factors and the risk of excessive or inadequate gestational weight gain. International Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, 91(2), 125–131. doi:10.1016/j.ijgo.2005.08.008.
Berkey, C. S., Gardner, J. D., Frazier, A. L., et al. (2000). Relation of childhood diet and body size to menarche and adolescent growth in girls. American Journal of Epidemiology, 152(5), 446–452.
Rogers, I. S., Northstone, K., Dunger, D. B., et al. (2010). Diet throughout childhood and age at menarche in a contemporary cohort of British girls. Public Health Nutrition, 13(12), 2052–2063. doi:10.1017/S1368980010001461.
Koo, M. M., Rohan, T. E., Jain, M., et al. (2002). A cohort study of dietary fibre intake and menarche. Public Health Nutrition, 5(2), 353–360. doi:10.1079/PHN2002261.
Fraser MR (2012) Bringing it all together: Effective maternal and child health practice as a means to improve public health. Maternal Child Health Journal. doi:10.1007/s10995-012-1064-1.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Deardorff, J., Berry-Millett, R., Rehkopf, D. et al. Maternal Pre-pregnancy BMI, Gestational Weight Gain, and Age at Menarche in Daughters. Matern Child Health J 17, 1391–1398 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-012-1139-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-012-1139-z