Earlier age at menarche is associated with higher diabetes risk and cardiometabolic disease risk factors in Brazilian adults: Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil)
Open Access
- 1 January 2014
- journal article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Cardiovascular Diabetology
- Vol. 13 (1), 22
- https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2840-13-22
Abstract
Early menarche has been linked to higher risk of type 2 diabetes in Western and Asian societies, yet whether age at menarche is associated with diabetes in Latin America, where puberty and diabetes may have different life courses, is unknown. We tested the hypothesis that earlier menarche is associated with higher diabetes risk in Brazilian adults. We used data from 8,075 women aged 35-74 years in the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil) who had complete information on age at menarche, diabetes status, and covariates. Diabetes was defined based on self-reported physician diagnosis, medication use, and laboratory variables (fasting glucose, 2-hour glucose, and glycated hemoglobin). Poisson regression was used to generate risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Menarche onset < 11 years [vs. 13-14 years (referent)] was associated with higher risk of diabetes (RR = 1.34; 95% CI: 1.14-1.57) after adjusting for sociodemographic factors, maternal education, maternal and paternal diabetes, and birth weight. This persisted after further control for BMI at age 20 years and relative leg length. Additionally, among those not taking diabetes medications, earlier menarche [<11 years vs. 13-14 years (referent)] was associated with higher % glycated hemoglobin (p < 0.001), alanine aminotransferase (p < 0.001), triglycerides (p < 0.001), C-reactive protein (p = 0.003), waist circumference (p < 0.001), and BMI measured at baseline exam (p < 0.001). These findings support the hypothesis that earlier menarche is associated with greater risk for adult diabetes and cardiometabolic disease in the Brazilian context.Keywords
This publication has 46 references indexed in Scilit:
- Association of age at menarche with metabolic syndrome and its components in rural Bangladeshi womenNutrition & Metabolism, 2012
- Higher Levels of IGF-I and Adrenal Androgens at Age 8 Years Are Associated with Earlier Age at Menarche in GirlsJournal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2012
- The role of BMI across the life course in the relationship between age at menarche and diabetes, in a British Birth CohortDiabetic Medicine, 2012
- Age at Menarche, the Leg Length to Sitting Height Ratio, and Risk of Diabetes in Middle-Aged and Elderly Chinese Men and WomenPLOS ONE, 2012
- Lifestyle Modification for ObesityCirculation, 2012
- IDF Diabetes Atlas: Global estimates of the prevalence of diabetes for 2011 and 2030Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, 2011
- Age at Menarche and Its Association with the Metabolic Syndrome and Its Components: Results from the KORA F4 StudyPLOS ONE, 2011
- National, regional, and global trends in fasting plasma glucose and diabetes prevalence since 1980: systematic analysis of health examination surveys and epidemiological studies with 370 country-years and 2·7 million participantsThe Lancet, 2011
- Age at Menarche and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: Results From 2 Large Prospective Cohort StudiesAmerican Journal of Epidemiology, 2009
- Effects of age at menarche, reproductive years, and menopause on metabolic risk factors for cardiovascular diseasesAtherosclerosis, 2007