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Maturational timing and overweight prevalence in US adolescent girls
1Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina, University Square, CB# 8120, 123 W Franklin St, Chapel Hill, NC 27516-3997, USA. linda_adair@unc.edu
Objectives:
This study examined the relation of age at menarche to overweight in US adolescent girls.
Methods:
Effects of age at menarche and race/ethnicity on overweight were estimated via logistic regression, after adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics, in a sample of 6507 Hispanic, Black, White, and Asian American girls who participated in wave 2 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.
Results:
Overweight prevalence rates were significantly higher in early maturing adolescents of all racial/ethnic groups but highest (57.5%) among early maturing Black girls. Early maturation nearly doubled the odds of being overweight (body mass index at or above the 85th percentile).
Conclusions:
Greater public health attention should be focused on the high prevalence of overweight, particularly among minority female adolescents.