American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access originally published online on August 17, 2005
American Journal of Epidemiology 2005 162(7):623-632; doi:10.1093/aje/kwi260
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ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS |
Age at Menarche in Relation to Adult Height
The EPIC Study
1 Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands
2 E3N-EPIC Group, Institute Gustav Roussy, National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM), Villejuif, France
3 Cancer Research UK Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
4 Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen, Denmark
5 Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Medical School, University of Athens, Athens, Greece
6 International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France
7 Department of Community Medicine, Malmö University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden
8 Dipartimento di Medicina Clinica e Sperimentale, Universita Federico II, Naples, Italy
9 Molecular and Nutritional Epidemiology Unit, Centro per lo Studio e la Prevenzione Oncologica, Istituto Scientifico della Regione Toscana, Florence, Italy
10 Centre for Nutrition and Health, National Institute for Public Health and Environment, Bilthoven, the Netherlands
11 Department of Epidemiology, German Institute of Human Nutrition, Bergholz-Rehbruecke, Germany
12 Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Aalborg Hospital, Aarhus University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
13 Department of Oncology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
14 Public Health and Health Planning Directorate, Asturias, Spain
15 Epidemiology Department, Regional Health Council, Murcia, Spain
16 Division of Clinical Epidemiology, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg, Germany
17 Clinical Gerontology Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Correspondence to N. C. Onland-Moret, Julius Center for General Practice and Patient Oriented Research, Room Str-6.119, University Medical Center Utrecht, P.O. Box 85500, 3508 GA Utrecht, the Netherlands (e-mail: N.C.Onland{at}jc.azu.nl).
In the last two centuries, age at menarche has decreased in several European populations, whereas adult height has increased. It is unclear whether these trends have ceased in recent years or how age at menarche and height are related in individuals. In this study, the authors first investigated trends in age at menarche and adult height among 286,205 women from nine European countries by computing the mean age at menarche and height in 5-year birth cohorts, adjusted for differences in socioeconomic status. Second, the relation between age at menarche and height was estimated by linear regression models, adjusted for age at enrollment between 1992 and 1998 and socioeconomic status. Mean age at menarche decreased by 44 days per 5-year birth cohort (ß = –0.12, standard error = 0.002), varying from 18 days in the United Kingdom to 58 days in Spain and Germany. Women grew 0.29 cm taller per 5-year birth cohort (standard error = 0.007), varying from 0.42 cm in Italy to 0.98 cm in Denmark. Furthermore, women grew approximately 0.31 cm taller when menarche occurred 1 year later (range by country: 0.13–0.50 cm). Based on time trends, more recent birth cohorts have their menarche earlier and grow taller. However, women with earlier menarche reach a shorter adult height compared with women who have menarche at a later age.
body height; Europe; menarche
Abbreviations: EPIC, European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition; SD, standard deviation
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