Study protocol: the Childhood to Adolescence Transition Study (CATS)

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Endocrinology
• Developmental Psychology
• Public Health

Background:

• Puberty involves complex endocrine changes, increasing risks for behavioral and emotional health issues.
• Early puberty is linked to reproductive cancers and cardiovascular disease.
• Previous research often treated puberty as a single process, neglecting distinct hormonal stages like adrenarche and gonadarche.

Purpose of the Study:

• To prospectively examine associations between the timing and stages of pubertal hormonal changes and health/behavioral problems.
• To investigate the initial focus on adrenarche, the first pubertal hormonal event occurring around age 8.
• To provide a detailed understanding of child development during the transition from childhood to adolescence.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal population-based cohort study (Childhood to Adolescence Transition Study - CATS).
• Recruited 1239 students (aged 8-9) and parents from a stratified school sample in Melbourne, Australia.
• Annual data collection via questionnaires (student, parent, teacher) and anthropometric measurements; saliva samples for hormonal analysis (adrenarche, gonadarche).

Main Results:

• Baseline data collection complete with hormonal, anthropometric, and health/behavioral measures.
• Initial cross-sectional analysis of baseline associations between hormonal indices and mental health/behavior is planned.
• Longitudinal analysis will follow in subsequent waves.

Conclusions:

• CATS offers a unique opportunity to study early pubertal development, linking biological and phenotypic data.
• The cohort will yield rich insights into development, lifestyle, and health during the childhood-to-adolescence transition.
• Findings will uniquely contribute to understanding adrenarche and puberty's role in children's health and development.