Longitudinal Investigation of Pubertal Milestones and Hormones as a Function of Body Fat in Girls.

ABSTRACT:

Context

Epidemiologic studies have demonstrated that overweight/obese girls (OW/OB) undergo thelarche and menarche earlier than normal weight girls (NW). There have been no longitudinal studies to specifically investigate how body weight/fat affects both clinical and biochemical pubertal markers in girls.

Objective

To investigate the effect of total body fat on reproductive hormones and on the maturation of estrogen-sensitive tissues during puberty in girls.

Methods

Ninety girls (36 OW/OB, 54 NW), aged 8.2 to 14.7 years, completed 2.8 ± 1.7 study visits over 4 years. Visits included dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry to calculate total body fat (TBF), Tanner staging, breast ultrasound for morphological staging (BMORPH; A-E), pelvic ultrasound, hormone tests, and assessm

SUBMITTER: Ortega MT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8118584 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature