Maternal age at menarche and offspring body mass index in childhood

Menarche marks the onset of reproductive capability in females and the time when resources priority is reallocated from growth to reproduction [1]. Age at menarche has been declining gradually across many developed countries and even more markedly in developing countries in the past several decades [2, 3]. Earlier menarche has been demonstrated to be a risk factor for shorted stature, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular diseases and polycystic ovarian syndrome in adulthood within one generation [4]. These associations could be explained by the concept of trade-offs between biological functions [5], which suggesting that for a given environment early maturation being a trade-off for additional disease risks in adulthood to maximize reproductive potential [6]. However, whether the pattern of these associations could be extended across generations is unclear. From an evolutionary perspective, exposure during early life not only has long term effects on F1 generation and may also extend to the future generations [7].

Three previous studies from developed countries found that early maternal age of menarche (MAM) was associated with rapid infant growth and childhood obesity in offspring [8‐10]. Another study also showed that women with earlier MAM were more likely to have overweight children at 4 to 5 years of age [11]. However, little is known as to the relationship of MAM with offspring BMI beyond preschool stage into childhood in a developing country. Childhood is a critical stage for the establishment of adipose tissue and contributes to the development of adiposity in the later life [12]. Thus, to further examine the intergenerational role of MAM played in childhood body mass index (BMI), we took advantage of a large population-based cross-sectional study, ‘the Shanghai Children’s Health, Education and lifestyle Evaluation (SCHEDULE) study’ to assess the association of MAM with childhood BMI in offspring. We also examined whether these associations varied by sex.

Several studies have found that earlier age of menarche was positively associated with increased risk of gestational diabetes [13‐15], which, in turn, may play a role in the development of childhood obesity in offspring [16]. In addition, maternal BMI as a reflection of heritable and shared lifestyle factors could also play a role in offspring BMI [17]. Given, the mechanisms that mediate the associations of MAM with offspring BMI are unclear, we sought to perform mediation analysis to examine the potential contributions of mediators underlying the link between MAM and offspring BMI including maternal BMI, and maternal gestational diabetes.

A total of 17,571 students completed this population-based survey among the 17,620 eligible individuals, with a response rate of 99.7%. Anthropometric measurements were available for 16,373 participants, of whom 1680 (11.1%) had MAM ≤11 years old, 2955 (20.3%) 12 years, 3939 (27.2%) 13 years, 2819 (19.5%) 14 years and 3173 (21.9%) ≥15 years. The mean age of these participants was 9.2 years (ranging from 6 to 13 years) with SD 1.5 years.

Table 1 shows that earlier MAM was associated with a higher level of education and higher household income. Mothers with earlier MAM were more likely to have gestational diabetes. They were also more likely to have babies by cesarean section and higher BMI during adulthood.

Table 2 presents that earlier MAM was associated with higher BMI z-score during childhood in offspring in boys (− 0.05 z score per year older MAM, 95% CI, − 0.08 to − 0.02) and in girls (− 0.05 z score per year older MAM, 95% CI, − 0.07 to − 0.02) after adjustment for potential confounders. The association of MAM with offspring BMI z-scores did not vary by sex (P value for interaction were 0.74).

Table 3 shows that the associations of MAM with BMI z-scores in offspring were partially mediated by maternal adulthood BMI. The association of MAM with BMI z-score in offspring was partially mediated by maternal BMI in both sexes, with mediation effects of 37.7% in boys, and 19.4% in girls. Gestational diabetes did not mediate the association.

The sensitivity analysis of available case analysis obtained virtually the same results (Additional file 2). The E-values for observed associations were 1.24 and 1.21 in boys and girls, respectively. E-values for the limits of the 95% confidence interval were 1.18, and 1.13, respectively.

In this large, population-representative study, we found that children whose mothers had earlier menarche appeared to have higher BMI during childhood than children born to mothers with later menarche age. These associations did not vary by sex. Our study adds previous evidences by demonstrating an inter-generation effect of maternal early onset of puberty with offspring BMI, which was possibly mediated by maternal BMI.

Our finding is consistent with three previous studies from US, UK and China [8, 9, 11], showing that children whose mothers had menarche earlier than 12 years had taller stature and obesity risks compared to children whose mother had menarche later than 15 years. Our finding is also partly consistent with one study which suggesting that earlier MAM was not associated with BMI during infancy but higher BMI during childhood in offspring, with the association possibly due to cumulative effect from previous stages [10]. This study had lower follow up rate during infancy from birth to 2 years compared to childhood stage, which potentially caused selection bias during this period. Furthermore, BMI might not be a good indicator of adiposity during infancy when body composition changes rapidly as for childhood [31]. We found that maternal BMI in adulthood mediated the relation between maternal early puberty and higher offspring BMI in childhood which were consistent with previous studies [32]. Maternal BMI could be considered as an indicator for intrauterine environment which plays a critical role in childhood growth [33].

In this large population-based study with anthropometric measurements assessed by pediatricians; several limitations still existed. First, MAM was self-reported with a long time interval which might have introduced recall bias. However, age of menarche is a milestone in women’s reproductive life and could be recalled clearly years later [34]. Furthermore, if recall bias has occurred, it was most likely to be non-differential. Such a misclassification usually biases the result towards the null. Second, we do not have other measures than BMI for body composition. BMI may not be a good measure as indicator for adiposity. However, recent studies have shown that BMI during childhood could be considered as the most useful index for predicting obesity in later life [35]. Third, this study is a cross-sectional study. We could not assess the role of MAM on offspring BMI through the life course. However, the stage of early childhood may be a sensitive period, which is a good indicator for adulthood adiposity [36]. Fourth, the age range of the participants was 6–13 years with 85% classified into prepuberty group which decreased the variability of Tanner stage (i.e. they might have a growth spurt if they gone through puberty when the measurement was taken). Fifth, we do not have information on onset of fathers’ puberty. There is no such robust marker for male maturation as menarche in females [37]. However, maternal puberty maturation has similar effect for both males and females, it is possible that paternal rapid puberty maturation might have the same effect. Sixth, imprecisely measured factors might have confounded the observed association. As in other observational studies, the measurement error in self-reported variable is inevitable. Misclassification of gestational diabetes could attenuate our association and bias the results towards the null. Moreover, the observed association could be partly explained by unmeasured or residual confounding. However, in the analyses, we have adjusted for several potential confounders and further calculated the E-values. Based on the E-values, we found that an unmeasured confounder needs to be associated with both MAM and childhood BMI in offspring by the standard effect size of roughly 1.2 to explain away the association, which is unlikely. Seventh, for this study, we used the multistage cluster sampling for the sample representatives and sampling weight used in the analysis for reflecting the survey methodology, which could offset to some extent the bias that existed in this method. Lastly, information on maternal medical conditions was obtained by self-report; no verification via medical records was performed.

The mechanisms underlying the intergeneration association of early MAM with higher BMI during early puberty in offspring are unclear. Several pathways may operate simultaneously. First, both age at menarche and BMI are strong heritable traits from mothers to the next generation [38]. The significant association could be explained by the shared genetic factors such as LIN28B and PXMP3 even though specific genes for these traits are not comprehensively discovered [39]. Researchers have demonstrated that early menarche associated SNPs has also been found to play a role in rapid growth during childhood and early adolescence [40]. Second, MAM could also be considered as a proxy of intrauterine exposure of estrogen [41], i.e. earlier maternal age of menarche might exert long term effect on endogenous estrogen level [5, 42]. No sex-specific differences in these associations of early MAM with BMI in offspring has also emphasized the importance of transgenerational hormonal programming [42]. Animal studies have demonstrated that estrogenic agents could determine preadipocyte differentiation and formation in vitro through upregulation of PPAR-γ [43]. Estrogen exposure in utero has also associated with offspring metabolic disruption including overweight and obesity [44].

Our study shows that early menarche might have an intergenerational effect on offspring BMI during childhood. More research is needed to better understand the intergenerational effect on offspring BMI, which may offer a new perspective to childhood obesity intervention.