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Comparative Study
. 2001 Apr;91(4):642-4.
doi: 10.2105/ajph.91.4.642.

Maturational timing and overweight prevalence in US adolescent girls

L S Adair  1 , P Gordon-Larsen
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Maturational timing and overweight prevalence in US adolescent girls

L S Adair et al. Am J Public Health. 2001 Apr.

Abstract

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.

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