加拿大一項(xiàng)最新研究顯示,，孩子的身高似乎與母親首次進(jìn)入月經(jīng)期的年齡有一定聯(lián)系,。女性進(jìn)入青春期(被稱作初經(jīng)期)的時(shí)間越早，子女生長的速度會(huì)稍微更快一些,。
該科研組對(duì)美國在1959年和1966年間出生的3萬多名男孩和女孩的生長情況進(jìn)行了研究,。他們從這些孩子里挑選出由在12歲前和14歲后進(jìn)入初經(jīng)期的母親生育的孩子，并分成兩組,，大部分女孩都在12歲到13歲之間進(jìn)入初經(jīng)期,。從出生一直到8歲，這兩組孩子在身高,、體重和體質(zhì)指數(shù)(BMI)方面都一直存在微小差別,。
那些由較早進(jìn)入初經(jīng)期的母親生育的孩子，比較晚進(jìn)入初經(jīng)期的母親生育的小孩高三分之一英寸(8.47毫米),、重2磅(0.91公斤),。除此以外，他們的體質(zhì)指數(shù)也稍微更高一些,，不過仍處于正常范圍,。據(jù)該科研組說，雖然8.47毫米聽起來可能并不太多,，但是一組人平均高出這么多,，差別就會(huì)很明顯。
研究人員在《國際肥胖學(xué)》雜志上說,，這種差異不受性別,、種族、社會(huì)地位和母親的年齡及身高,、體重影響,。這項(xiàng)研究的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者、加拿大蒙特利爾市麥吉爾大學(xué)的奧爾加·巴索博士說：“生長發(fā)育是一個(gè)受到遺傳和環(huán)境因素雙重影響的復(fù)雜現(xiàn)象,。”母親第一次初經(jīng)的年齡(受到基因的部分影響)可能只是對(duì)這一過程具有影響的一方面因素,。
她的發(fā)現(xiàn)證實(shí)了最近英國的一項(xiàng)研究成果，該研究由劍橋艾登布魯克斯醫(yī)院的肯·昂格博士負(fù)責(zé)領(lǐng)導(dǎo),。昂格表示：“詢問母親的初經(jīng)年齡,，或許有助于我們解釋為什么一些嬰兒比其他嬰兒生長更快。”他還指出,，體重更重的女孩,，一般會(huì)更早進(jìn)入青春期；這些女孩患糖尿病和心臟病的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)也更高,。昂格表示,，他們需要通過更多研究,，尋找消除這些風(fēng)險(xiǎn)的辦法。
關(guān)于這些發(fā)現(xiàn),，研究人員還沒有切實(shí)可靠的解釋,。母親進(jìn)入初經(jīng)期的年齡對(duì)男孩和女孩都有影響的事實(shí)，說明這種影響可能與控制兩性生長的基因有關(guān),，并非只同控制女性生長的基因有聯(lián)系,。巴索說：“目前我們還無法解釋其他因素，例如母親傳給子女的飲食習(xí)慣,，可能是導(dǎo)致母親過早進(jìn)入初經(jīng)期和子女體型更大的原因,。我認(rèn)為，我們的發(fā)現(xiàn)強(qiáng)調(diào)了生長過程很復(fù)雜,。”(生物谷Bioon.net)
生物谷推薦原文出處：
International Journal of Obesity doi:10.1038/ijo.2010.104
Mother's age at menarche and offspring size
O Basso1, M L Pennell2, A Chen3 and M P Longnecker1
1 Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences NIH, DHHS, Durham, NC, USA
2 Division of Biostatistics, College of Public Health, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
3 Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA
Objective: An individual's growth trajectory is, at least in part, inherited. Mother's early age at menarche has been associated with taller offspring height and greater body mass index (BMI) at age 9 years, suggesting that mother's age at menarche may be an intergenerational marker of growth. We examined the association between mother's age at menarche and childhood size at birth, and at ages 1, 3, 4, 7 and 8 years in the Collaborative Perinatal Project.
Subjects: We examined 128?636 measurements obtained from 31?474 Black and White children. We transformed the original measurements into z-scores. Child size was examined in mixed models, adjusted for center, child sex, race, socioeconomic index, child's exact age at measurement (in months), mother's age at recruitment and, depending on which measure was the outcome in the specific model, mother's height, pre-pregnancy weight or BMI.
Results: Compared with children whose mother had menarche at age 15 years or later, children whose mothers had age at menarche before age 12 years were taller from 1 year of age and had higher BMI, particularly at ages 7 and 8 years (0.17 and 0.19 z-score units, respectively).
Conclusions: Mothers' age at menarche is a modest predictor of their children's growth trajectory. The mechanism is likely to be heritable, although other explanations are possible.
