Age at menarche and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

The goal of this study was to examine the association between age at menarche and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in Korean women and to explore whether any observed associations were mediated by adult adiposity.

A cross-sectional study was performed for 95,183 Korean women, aged 30 or older, who underwent a regular health screening examination between March 2011 and April 2013. Information regarding age at menarche was collected using standardized, self-administered questionnaires. The presence of fatty liver was determined using ultrasonographic findings. Poisson regression models with robust variance were used to evaluate the association between age at menarche and NAFLD.

Of the 76,415 women evaluated in this study, 9601 had NAFLD. Age at menarche was inversely associated with the prevalence of NAFLD. In a multivariable-adjusted model, the prevalence ratios (95% CIs) for NAFLD comparing menarche at <12, 12, 14, 15, and 16-18 years to menarche at 13 years were 1.31 (1.18-1.45), 1.05 (0.97-1.13), 0.93 (0.87-0.99), 0.87 (0.82-0.93), and 0.78 (0.73-0.84), respectively (p for trend <0.001). Adjusting for adult BMI or percent fat mass (%) substantially reduced these associations; however, they remained statistically significant. The association between age at menarche and NAFLD was modified by age.

We identified an inverse association between age at menarche and NAFLD in a large sample of middle-aged women. This association was partially mediated by adiposity. The findings of this study suggest that obesity prevention strategies are needed in women who undergo early menarche to reduce the risk of NAFLD.