Relationships between puberty timing and problem behaviors among 6~11 year-old girls / 中国神经精神疾病杂志

Objective To explore the relationships between advanced puberty timing and frequencies of problem behaviors using two different indexes of pubertal development as cut-off standards. Methods A total of 3003 primary school girls aged 6~11 in Beijing were recruited in the study. Parent-assessed Tanner staging according to the menarche and pubic hair development level and the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist were applied. Results When timing of menarche and pubic hair development stage were used as reference, the detection rate of girls with advanced puberty timing was 11.2% (337/3003) and 3.4% (101/3003), respectively. The scores of withdrawal problem (Z=-2.23, P=0.03) and physical problem (Z=-2.64, P=0.01) were higher in the advanced menarche group than in the moderate group. The scores of withdrawal behavior problem were higher in the advanced pubic hair development group than in the moderate group (X2=2.53, P=0.03). Scores of social problem (X2=2.71, P=0.02), aggression problem (X2=2.50, P=0.04), total score of problem behavior (X2=2.64, P=0.03) were also higher in the advanced pubic hair development group than in the delayed group. The correlation between the pubertal timing results based on the two different cut-off standards was not significant (r=0.04, P=0.06). Conclusion T he detection rate of girls with advanced puberty timing are different using the two different cut-off standards. The prominent problem behaviors in the advanced group are also different. Compared with girls with advanced menarche, girls with advanced pubic hair development may have more prominent problem behaviors than those with moderate development.

Association of prenatal and childhood environment smoking exposure with puberty timing: a systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES@#Mothers who smoke during pregnancy or while their children are small were common in some populations. Epidemiological studies have tried to detect the effect of prenatal tobacco smoke (PTS), and childhood environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) on puberty timing have not shown a consensus results. We aimed to examine current evidence and estimate the associations between PTS or/and ETS and puberty timing.@*METHODS@#Seven databases were searched from inception to May 2017. All the cohort studies examining the associations between PTS and/or ETS and puberty timing were identified. Two reviewers independently screened all studies, evaluated the quality of eligible studies, and extracted the data. The quality assessment of the eligible cohort studies was based on the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Risk ratio (RR), standard mean difference (SMD), and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated and pooled by CMA (Version 2.0, Biostat, Inc., USA).@*RESULTS@#Compared with controls, girls with PTS and ETS exposure have an earlier age at menarche (SMD - 0.087, 95% CI 0.174 to - 0.000), and similar results were found in both PTS subgroup (SMD - 0.097, 95% CI - 0.192 to - 0.002) and prospective cohort subgroup (SMD - 0.171, 95% CI - 0.253 to - 0.090). And number of boys with early voice break in PTS group was significantly increasing than non-exposed boys (RR 1.34, 95% CI 1.29 to 1.40).@*CONCLUSIONS@#PTS exposure possibly decrease age of menarche of girls, and studies on boys were urgent needed. Appropriate and comprehensive outcome measures using unified criteria to classify puberty should be reported in future studies.

Associations between adverse childhood experiences with early puberty timing and possible gender difference / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective To explore the association of adverse childhood events with early puberty timing and possible gender differences.Methods Data was gathered through questionnaires,physical and secondary sexual characteristics,examination with breast stage in girls and testicular volume in boys measured under informed consent among children in grade 3 to grade 5 from a largescale primary school.Information regarding adverse childhood experiences (ACEs),time of screening and physical activity was included in the questionnaire.Age limits on secondary sexual characteristics for defining early puberty established under the "China Puberty Research Collaboration Project" were used to classify early puberty timing.Body mass index was calculated and used to classify both overweight and obesity,in each gender.Results Among the 1 744 children aged 8.2-12.2 years old (957 boys),the prevalence rates of early puberty timing among boys and girls were 7.5％ and 14.6％,respectively,with gender differences (x2＝ 11.671,P＜ 0.001).Boys who reported having experienced serious adverse family events and girls with physical abuse were more likely to develop early puberty.Results from multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that family life events were associated with a higher risk of early puberty timing in boys (odds ratio:2.531,95％ CI:1.276-5.020) while experience related to physical abuse appeared a risk factor of early puberty timing in girls (odds ratio:2.453,95％CI:1.588-3.788).Conclusion Physical abuse and adverse family life events seemed to be associated with early puberty timing,suggesting further longitudinal study should be carried out to understand the nature of these findings and gender differences.