Cooper C, Kuh D, Egger P, Wadsworth M, Barker D
MRC Environmental Epidemiology Unit, Southampton General Hospital, UK.
Br J Obstet Gynaecol. 1996 Aug;103(8):814-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1996.tb09879.x.
To study the influence of birthweight, and weight and height at age seven years, on menarcheal age in a national sample of 1471 girls in England, Scotland and Wales.
We studied 1471 girls included in the MRC National Survey of Health and Development. During medical examinations carried out by school doctors in this cohort, born in the first week of March 1946, the mothers of girls were asked whether their daughters had started to menstruate, and if so, the month and year when this happened. Anthropometric measurements at birth and at age seven years were also obtained.
Girls who were heavier at age seven years had menarche at an earlier age. The average age at menarche of those in the highest fifth of the distribution of weight at seven years was 7.3 months less than that of those in the lowest fifth of the distribution. In contrast, girls who were heavier at birth had menarche at a later age. The average age at menarche of those in the highest fifth of the birthweight distribution was 2.2 months more than those in the lowest fifth. These opposing trends of birthweight and weight at seven years on age at menarche were observed across the distribution of each variable, and exerted statistically significant (P < 0.001) independent effects in a multivariate model.
These observations are consistent with the hypothesis that menarcheal age is linked to programmed patterns of gonadotrophin release established in utero, when the fetal hypothalamus is imprinted, and is subsequently modified by weight gain in childhood.
在一个包含1471名来自英格兰、苏格兰和威尔士女孩的全国性样本中，研究出生体重以及7岁时的体重和身高对初潮年龄的影响。
我们研究了医学研究委员会全国健康与发展调查中纳入的1471名女孩。在对该队列中于1946年3月第一周出生的女孩进行的医学检查期间，询问了女孩的母亲其女儿是否已开始月经来潮，如果是，月经来潮的月份和年份。同时还获取了出生时和7岁时的人体测量数据。
7岁时体重较重的女孩初潮年龄较早。在7岁体重分布最高的五分之一组中的女孩，其初潮平均年龄比体重分布最低的五分之一组中的女孩小7.3个月。相比之下，出生时体重较重的女孩初潮年龄较晚。出生体重分布最高的五分之一组中的女孩，其初潮平均年龄比最低的五分之一组中的女孩大2.2个月。在每个变量的分布中都观察到了出生体重和7岁时体重对初潮年龄的这些相反趋势，并且在多变量模型中发挥了具有统计学意义（P < 0.001）的独立作用。
这些观察结果与以下假设一致，即初潮年龄与子宫内建立的促性腺激素释放的程序化模式相关，此时胎儿下丘脑被印记，随后在儿童期因体重增加而发生改变。
