Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jul 22:13:882840.
doi: 10.3389/fendo.2022.882840. eCollection 2022.

Association between height growth patterns in puberty and stature in late adolescence: A longitudinal analysis in chinese children and adolescents from 2006 to 2016

Li Chen  1 , Binbin Su  2 , Yi Zhang  1 , Tao Ma  1 , Jieyu Liu  1 , Zhaogeng Yang  1 , Yanhui Li  1 , Di Gao  1 , Manman Chen  1 , Ying Ma  1 , Xijie Wang  1   3 , Bo Wen  4 , Jun Jiang  5 , Yanhui Dong  1 , Yi Song  1 , Jun Ma  1
Affiliations

Association between height growth patterns in puberty and stature in late adolescence: A longitudinal analysis in chinese children and adolescents from 2006 to 2016

Li Chen et al. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Introduction: The relationship between the characteristics of puberty growth and the stature (height and overweight and obesity) in late adolescence was not clear. We aimed to explore the effects of puberty growth patterns on the stature in late adolescence.

Methods: A total of 13,143 children from a longitudinal cohort from 2006 to 2016 in Zhongshan city of China were included. The Preece-Baines growth curve was fitted for each individual child, and the age at peak height velocity (APHV), peak height velocity (PHV), and age at take-off (TOA) were obtained from the Preece-Baines model. To compare the difference in height in late adolescence (at 18 years old) at different pubertal height growth patterns (height spurt timing, intensity, and duration), the height at baseline was matched by using the propensity score matching. The log-binomial model was applied to assess the association between the three pubertal height growth patterns (timing, intensity, and duration) and overweight and obesity status in late adolescence, controlling the urbanity and body mass index (BMI) at baseline.

Results: After matching the baseline height, boys and girls in three pubertal patterns with early timing (P < 0.01), small intensity (P < 0.01), and short duration (P < 0.01) of height spurt had the lowest final height in the late adolescence. A 16% increase and 45% increase of risk for overweight and obesity were significantly associated with the early APHV in boys and girls, respectively, relative risk (RR) in boys, 1.16(95% confidence interval, CI: 1.03-1.30), P = 0.011; RR in girls, 1.45(1.21-1.75), P < 0.001. A 21% increase and 59% increase of risk for overweight and obesity were significantly associated with small PHV in boys and girls, respectively, RR in boys, 1.21(1.07-1.36), P < 0.001; RR in girls, 1.59(1.30-1.95), P < 0.001; and an 80% increase of risk for overweight and obesity with small spurt duration in girls (RR = 1.80; 95% CI: 1.49, 2.18; P < 0.001).

Conclusion: Pubertal growth patterns, including earlier puberty onset timing, smaller puberty intensity, and shorter puberty spurt duration, had a positive association with lower height risks and higher overweight and obesity risks in late adolescence.

Keywords: adult height; duration; intensity; overweight and obesity; pubertal growth patterns; timing.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The characteristics of height growth patterns in puberty between boys and girls. Description of results in figure above: Because girls entered the height spurt earlier and the height growth rate was higher than that of boys at the same period. Girls began to catch up in height and surpassed boys at 9.2 years old, forming the first height crossover. As boys began to enter the height spurt, the growth rate of height accelerated, and the duration and PHV of height spurt exceeded that of girls, so that the height of boys exceeded that of girls at age of 12.6 years, forming the second crossover of height. After that, the height gap between boys and girls continued to expand, and the height of the boys in the late adolescence (171.8 ± 6.1 cm) was significantly higher than that of girls (159.45 ± 5.8 cm) (t = 117.39, P < 0.001).
Figure 2
Figure 2
The height growth trajectory of boys and girls with different height spurt timing (APHV) after matching the pre-pubertal height at baseline. (A) height velocity for boys; (B) height for boys; (C) height velocity for girls; (D) height for girls.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The height growth trajectory of boys and girls with different height spurt intensity (PHV) after matching the pre-pubertal height at baseline. (A) height velocity for boys; (B) height for boys; (C) height velocity for girls; (D) height for girls.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The height growth trajectory of boys and girls with different height spurt duration after matching the pre-pubertal height at baseline. (A) height velocity for boys; (B) height for boys; (C) height velocity for girls; (D) height for girls.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Association between height growth patterns and overweight and obesity in late adolescence of Chinese children and adolescents.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Villamor E, Jansen EC. Nutritional determinants of the timing of puberty. Annu Rev Public Health (2016) 37:33–46. doi: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031914-122606 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Abreu AP, Kaiser UB. Pubertal development and regulation. J.L.D. Endocrinol (2016) 4(3):254–64. doi: 10.1016/S2213-8587(15)00418-0 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gluckman PD, Hanson MA. Evolution, development and timing of puberty. J.T.i.E.and Metab (2006) 17(1):7–12. doi: 10.1016/j.tem.2005.11.006 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Golub MS, Collman GW, Foster P, Kimmel CA, Meyts RD, Reiter EO, et al. Public health implications of altered puberty timing. Pediatrics (2008) 121 Suppl 3(Supplement):S218. doi: 10.1542/peds.2007-1813G - DOI - PubMed
    1. Prentice P, Viner RM. Pubertal timing and adult obesity and cardiometabolic risk in women and men: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Obes (Lond) (2013) 37(8):1036–43. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2012.177 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types