Stunting, recovery from stunting and puberty development in the MINIMat cohort, Bangladesh

This paper aimed to analyse the association between small for size at birth, stunting, recovery from stunting and pubertal development in a rural Bangladeshi cohort.

The participants were 994 girls and 987 boys whose mothers participated in the Maternal and Infant Nutrition Interventions in Matlab trial. The birth cohort was followed from birth to puberty 2001-2017. Pubertal development according to Tanner was self-assessed. Age at menarche was determined and in boys, consecutive height measurements were used to ascertain whether pubertal growth spurt had started. The exposures and outcomes were modelled by Cox's proportional hazards analyses and logistic regression.

There was no difference in age at menarche between girls that were small or appropriate for gestational age at birth. Boys born small for gestational age entered their pubertal growth spurt later than those with appropriate weight. Children who were stunted had later pubertal development, age at menarche and onset of growth spurt than non-stunted children. Children who recovered from infant or early childhood stunting had similar pubertal development as non-stunted children.

Infant and childhood stunting was associated with a later pubertal development. Recovery from stunting was not associated with earlier puberty in comparison with non-stunted children.