246 - Associations Between Parental Pubertal Timing and Daughters’ Age at Menarche: Evidence from a Menstrual Tracking App Survey

Publication Number: 3238.246

Naho Morisaki, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; Mizuho Igarashi, Devision of Endocrinology and Metabolism, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; Hibiki Doi, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; Aurelie Piedvache, The National Center for Child Health and Development, Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan; Keisuke Yoshii, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Background: The timing of menarche is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Although the correlation between mothers' and daughters' menarche timing has been well documented, the association between daughters' menarche timing and fathers' pubertal timing has not been thoroughly investigated.

Objective: To examine the associations between daughters' menarche timing and both maternal and paternal pubertal timing, using survey data from mother-daughter dyads collected via a menstrual tracking app.

Design/Methods: An in-app questionnaire was administered to female users of a menstrual tracking app who had a daughter of elementary to high school age. The users reported their own and the biological father's pubertal information, including height, age at key pubertal events (menarche for the mother; voice change and growth spurt for the father), and subjective timing of these events ("earlier," "later," or "average" compared with peers). For the daughters, age at menarche and anthropometric data (height and weight at birth, 18 months, and 36 months) were collected.
Bivariate associations between maternal, paternal, and child characteristics and the daughter's age at menarche were first assessed. Subsequently, a multivariate model was developed to evaluate the associations between the daughter's age at menarche and both parents' self-assessed pubertal timing.

Results: Among 1,236 respondents, 1,218 reported that their daughter had experienced menarche; 939 provided their own subjective pubertal timing, and 402 provided the biological father's. Bivariate analyses showed that maternal age at menarche, subjective timing of menarche of the mother and subjective timing of growth spurt of the father compared with peers, as well as maternal height were associated with daughters' age at menarche. Subjective timing of voice change and current height of father did not show significant association.
In a multivariate analysis of 395 cases with complete data, compared with daughters whose parents had "average" pubertal timing, those whose mothers reported "later" puberty experienced menarche 0.48 years later (95% CI: 0.17-0.80), while those whose mothers reported "earlier" puberty experienced menarche 0.37 years earlier (95% CI: −0.65 to −0.09). Daughters whose fathers reported "later" puberty experienced menarche 0.38 years later (95% CI: 0.10-0.66), whereas no significant association was observed for "earlier" paternal puberty (95% CI: −0.57 to 0.11).

Conclusion(s): Both maternal and paternal pubertal timing are associated with daughters' age at menarche.

Table 1. Child Characteristics
BMI: body mass index; SD: standard deviation; N number

Table 2. Association between menarche and maternal, paternal and growth characteristics
BMI: body mass index; SD: standard deviation; N number; coef: coefficient; 95CI: 95% confidence interval; REF: reference

Interaction effect of mother (M) and father (F) puberty timing on child age at menarche
M = mother; F = father. "Earlier," "later," and "average" indicate the subjective timing of key pubertal events (menarche for the mother; growth spurt for the father) compared with peers.