ASSOCIATION BETWEEN AGE AT MENARCHE AND EARLY-LIFE NUTRITIONAL STATUS IN RURAL BANGLADESH

SummaryAge at menarche is associated with anthropometry in adolescence. Recently, there has been growing support for the hypothesis that timing of menarche may be set early in life but modified by changes in body size and composition in childhood. To evaluate this, a cohort of 255 girls aged <5 years recruited in 1988 were followed up in 2001 in Matlab, Bangladesh. The analysis was based on nutritional status as assessed by anthropometry and recalled age at menarche. Data were examined using lifetable techniques and the Cox regression model. The association between nutritional status indicators and age at menarche was examined in a multivariate model adjusting for potential confounding variables. Censored cases were accounted for. The median age at menarche was 15·1 years. After controlling for early-life predictors (birth size, childhood underweight, childhood stunting) it appeared that adolescent stunting stood out as the most important determinant of age at menarche. Adolescent stunting still resonates from the effect of stunting in early childhood (OR respectively 2·63 (p<0·01 CI: 1·32–5·24) and 8·47 (p<0·001 CI: 3·79–18·93) for moderately and severely stunted under-fives as compared with the reference category). Birth size was not a significant predictor of age at menarche. It is concluded that age at menarche is strongly influenced by nutritional status in adolescence, notably the level of stunting, which is in turn highly dependent on the level of stunting in early childhood. A ‘late’ menarche due to stunting may be detrimental for reproductive health in case of early childbearing because of the association between height and pelvic size.

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PREDICTORS OF AGE AT MENARCHE IN THE NEWCASTLE THOUSAND FAMILIES STUDY

Journal of Biosocial Science ◽

10.1017/s0021932007002696 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 40 (4) ◽

pp. 563-575 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

MWENZA BLELL ◽

TESSA M. POLLARD ◽

MARK S. PEARCE

Keyword(s):

Birth Weight ◽

Early Life ◽

Age At Menarche ◽

Childhood Growth ◽

Study Support ◽

Statistical Relationships ◽

Timing Of Menarche ◽

Future Work

SummarySeveral studies have found relationships between early life factors (birth weight, length of gestation, height, weight, duration of breast-feeding, maternal age, social class, periods of infection, presence of adverse life events, and quality of housing conditions in childhood) and age at menarche but none has considered all of these factors in the same study. The follow-up study of the Newcastle Thousand Families birth cohort, established in 1947, provided age at menarche data collected retrospectively at age 50 from 276 women who returned self-completion questionnaires in 1997. Three main independent associations were observed: girls who experienced a shorter gestation, girls whose mothers were younger when they were born, and girls who were heavier at age 9 had earlier menarche. Birth weight, standardized for gestational age, was found to have different relationships with age at menarche depending upon how heavy or light a girl was at age 9. The results of this study support the hypotheses that conditions in fetal and early life are associated with the timing of menarche and that greater childhood growth is associated with earlier menarche. It is suggested that future work should focus on illuminating the mechanisms underlying these statistical relationships.

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Influence of Childhood Adversity and Infection on Timing of Menarche in a Multiethnic Sample of Women

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18084080 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (8) ◽

pp. 4080

Author(s):

Ayana K. April-Sanders ◽

Parisa Tehranifar ◽

Erica Lee Argov ◽

Shakira F. Suglia ◽

Carmen B. Rodriguez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Early Life ◽

Life Experiences ◽

Childhood Adversity ◽

Reproductive Development ◽

Age At Menarche ◽

Multiethnic Cohort ◽

History Of ◽

Timing Of Menarche ◽

Parental Maltreatment ◽

Multiethnic Sample

Childhood adversities (CAs) and infections may affect the timing of reproductive development. We examined the associations of indicators of CAs and exposure to tonsillitis and infectious mononucleosis (mono) with age at menarche. A multiethnic cohort of 400 women (ages 40–64 years) reported exposure to parental maltreatment and maladjustment during childhood and any diagnosis of tonsillitis and/or mono; infections primarily acquired in early life and adolescence, respectively. We used linear and relative risk regression models to examine the associations of indicators of CAs individually and cumulatively, and history of tonsillitis/mono with an average age at menarche and early onset of menarche (<12 years of age). In multivariable models, histories of mental illness in the household (RR = 1.44, 95% CI: 1.01–2.06), and tonsillitis diagnosis (RR = 1.67, 95% CI: 1.20–2.33) were associated with early menarche (<12 years), and with an earlier average age at menarche by 7.1 months (95% CI: −1.15, −0.02) and 8.8 months (95% CI: −1.26, −0.20), respectively. Other adversities indicators, cumulative adversities, and mono were not statistically associated with menarcheal timing. These findings provided some support for the growing evidence that early life experiences may influence the reproductive development in girls.

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Relationship between age at menarche and early-life nutritional status in India

British Journal of Sports Medicine ◽

10.1136/bjsm.2010.078725.144 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 44 (Suppl_1) ◽

pp. i43-i43 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

M. Dahiya ◽

V. K. Rathi

Keyword(s):

Nutritional Status ◽

Early Life ◽

Age At Menarche

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Dental Caries Severity and Nutritional Status of Nigerian Preschool Children

JDR Clinical & Translational Research ◽

10.1177/23800844211002108 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 238008442110021

Author(s):

O.O. Olatosi ◽

A.A. Alade ◽

T. Naicker ◽

T. Busch ◽

A. Oyapero ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Dental Caries ◽

Nutritional Status ◽

Early Childhood Caries ◽

Z Score ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Risk Of Death ◽

Malnourished Children ◽

Z Scores ◽

Childhood Caries

Introduction: Malnutrition in children is one of the most prevalent global health challenges, and malnourished children have a higher risk of death from childhood diseases. Early childhood caries (ECC) is the most common chronic disease of childhood. Complications from ECC such as pain, loss of tooth/teeth, and infection can undermine a child’s nutrition and growth. Aim: This study aims to evaluate the severity of decay, missing, and filled tooth (dmft) by nutritional status using the z scores of the anthropometric measurements: height for age (HFA), weight for age (WFA), weight for height (WFH), and body mass index for age (BMIA) among children with ECC in Nigeria. Study Design: This is a cross-sectional study conducted in 5 local government areas (LGAs) in Lagos State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used. Results: A total of 273 cases of ECC were included in the analyses (mean age 4.19 ± 0.96 y). Overall, the mean dmft was 3.04 ± 2.28, and most (96%) were accounted for by untreated decay. The distribution of dmft within the different z score categories of BMIA (<–3 = severely wasted, –2 to –3 = wasted, –2 to +2 = normal, +2 to +3 = overweight and >+3 = obese) showed the highest dmft scores among the combined severely wasted and wasted groups, lowest among children with normal z scores, and intermediate in the overweight and obese groups. There was a significant negative correlation between BMIA z score, WFH z score, and dmft ( r = −0.181, P < 0.05 and r = −0.143, P < 0.05, respectively). However, the correlations between HFA z score, WFA z score, and dmft were positive but not significant ( r = 0.048, P = 0.44 and r = 0.022, P = 0.77, respectively). Conclusion: Our study showed an increased severity of dental caries among severely wasted or wasted children with ECC compared to those of normal or overweight. Knowledge Transfer Statement: The results from this study will raise awareness among clinicians and policy makers on the need for a primary prevention program for early childhood caries in countries with high burden of malnutrition and limited resources. Also, it will help draw the attention of clinicians to the caries status of malnourished children that can be managed to improve the nutritional outcomes.

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Survival analysis of time to SARS-CoV-2 PCR negativisation to optimise PCR prescription in health workers: the Henares COVID-19 healthcare workers cohort study

Occupational and Environmental Medicine ◽

10.1136/oemed-2020-106903 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. oemed-2020-106903

Author(s):

Julio González Martin-Moro ◽

Marta Chamorro Gómez ◽

Galicia Dávila Fernández ◽

Ana Elices Apellaniz ◽

Ana Fernández Hortelano ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cohort Study ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

Cox Regression ◽

Health Workers ◽

Upper Respiratory Tract ◽

Rt Pcr ◽

Kaplan Meier ◽

Confounding Variables ◽

The Impact ◽

Associated Variables

ObjectivesReverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) is considered the gold standard in diagnosing COVID-19. Infected healthcare workers do not go back to work until RT-PCR has demonstrated that the virus is no longer present in the upper respiratory tract. The aim of this study is to determine the most efficient time to perform RT-PCR prior to healthcare workers’ reincorporation.Materials and methodsThis is a cohort study of healthcare workers with RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19. Data were collected using the medical charts of healthcare workers and completed with a telephone interview. Kaplan-Meier curves were used to determine the influence of several variables on the time to RT-PCR negativisation. The impact of the variables on survival was assessed using the Breslow test. A Cox regression model was developed including the associated variables.Results159 subjects with a positive RT-PCR out of 374 workers with suspected COVID-19 were included. The median time to negativisation was 25 days from symptom onset (IQR 20–35 days). Presence of IgG, dyspnoea, cough and throat pain were associated with significant longer time to negativisation. Cox logistic regression was used to adjust for confounding variables. Only dyspnoea and cough remained in the model as significant determinants of prolonged negativisation time. Adjusted HRs were 0.68 (0.48–096) for dyspnoea and 0.61 (0.42–0.88) for dry cough.ConclusionsRT-PCR during the first 3 weeks leads to a high percentage of positive results. In the presence of respiratory symptoms, negativisation took nearly 1 week more. Those who developed antibodies needed longer time to negativisate.

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