ORIGINAL ARTICLE   

Minerva Endocrinology 2022 June;47(2):167-71

DOI: 10.23736/S2724-6507.20.03168-5

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Early and delayed puberty among Iranian children with obesity

Reihaneh MOHSENIPOUR ¹, Farzaneh ABBASI ¹, Aria SETOODEH ¹, Fatemeh SAYARIFARD ¹, Parastoo ROSTAMI ¹, Zeinab MOINFAR ², Mahsa M. AMOLI ³, Parisa TAJDINI ¹, Ali RABBANI ¹ ✉

¹ Growth and Development Research Center, Children’s Medical Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; ² Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; ³ Metabolic Disorders Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Molecular-Cellular Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

BACKGROUND: It has been hypothesized that puberty onset is disturbed as the children gain more weight. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of the puberty disturbances among children with obesity in Tehran, Iran.
METHODS: This study was performed as a cross-sectional study, investigating 168 children with obesity from Tehran, Iran, from March 2018 to February 2019. BMI percentile more than 95% was considered as the inclusion criteria.
RESULTS: Seventy-eight (46.4%) of the assessed children were females. The mean weight, height, BMI were 89.65 (±11.01) kg, 169.88 (±8.32) centimeters and 31.13(±3.8) kg/m², respectively. There was no difference between males and females regarding the early puberty (P=0.098), but delayed puberty was significantly higher among males (P=0.029). Our results indicated higher birth weight is associated with earlier onset of obesity in children (P=0.044).
CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated no association between obesity and early puberty in girls; however, boys with obesity had delayed puberty. We also found higher birth weight is associated with earlier onset of obesity, putting light on the importance of preventive interventions.

KEY WORDS: Puberty; Puberty, delayed; Puberty, precocious; Obesity