Early and delayed puberty among Iranian children with obesity

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.