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Systematic review and meta‐analysis of the association between childhood physical activity and age at menarche
Author(s) -
Calthorpe Lucia,
Brage Soren,
Ong Ken K.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
acta paediatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/apa.14711
Subject(s) - medicine , menarche , meta analysis , cohort , demography , population , cohort study , prospective cohort study , childhood obesity , body mass index , pediatrics , overweight , environmental health , sociology
Aim To systematically appraise and summarise published evidence on the association between childhood physical activity (PA) and subsequent age at menarche (AAM). Methods We searched PubMed (1990–2018) for studies that reported the relationship between childhood PA and AAM. We performed tabular synthesis of population‐based studies and a random‐effects meta‐analysis of results of athlete/nonathlete studies. Results One randomised controlled trial was identified, in which an intervention to prevent obesity reduced the likelihood of menarche during the two‐year study period (relative risk: 0.75, 95% CI : 0.66–0.87; n = 422 girls). One of five prospective cohort studies (total n = 4492) reported a significant association between self‐reported PA duration and subsequent menarche timing. Four of five historical cohort studies (total n = 89 470) reported significant associations between recalled premenarcheal PA and later AAM. Meta‐analysis across 12 athlete/nonathlete studies showed that menarche occurred 1.13 years later (95% CI : 0.80–1.47) in athletes compared to nonathletes. Conclusion These findings suggest that AAM is a behaviourally modifiable trait. However, the quality of reported population‐based study evidence is low and estimation of the true relationship between childhood PA and AAM is likely confounded by concomitant changes in diet and lifestyle behaviours.