ABSTRACT
Study Objective
This study analyzed the relationship between household food security and variation
in age at menarche, as well as the connections between food insecurity, nutritional
status, and allostatic load, among girls aged 12-15 years from the 2009-2014 United
States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
Methods
Data analysis included mean comparisons of age at menarche among household food security
groups (high, marginal, low, and very low) as well as categorical variables known
to associate with age at menarche (ethnicity, poverty status, body mass index [BMI],
allostatic load, and milk consumption). χ2 Analyses were used to test the associations between household food security and additional
categorical variables. Univariate and multivariate regression models were used to
test the relationship between variation in age at menarche and household food security,
ethnicity, BMI, and allostatic load categories while controlling for age.
Results
Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic/Mexican American girls had earlier mean ages at menarche,
higher mean BMIs, and disproportionately experienced household food insecurity when
compared to non-Hispanic White-identifying girls. In the univariate analyses, marginal
household food security, Hispanic/Mexican American and Black ethnicities, overweight
and obese BMI categories, and marginal-high allostatic load were each associated with
lower age at menarche compared to reference categories. These associations were maintained
in the multivariate analysis, although only Hispanic/Mexican American ethnicity predicted
earlier menarche when compared to that of non-Hispanic White girls.
Conclusions
Marginal household food security, particularly for girls who identified as non-White,
predicted earlier age at menarche independent of nutritional status and allostatic
load. At the same time, having more energetic resources (ie, higher BMI) also significantly
predicted earlier menarche.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 07, 2021
Accepted:
March 26,
2021
Received in revised form:
February 22,
2021
Received:
December 15,
2020
Footnotes
The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
