Height and Weight at Menarche and a Hypothesis of Critical Body Weights and Adolescent Events

TLDR

The study proposes that a critical body weight triggers adolescent events such as menarche, the weight growth spurt, and maximum weight gain. Height and weight at menarche were measured in subjects from three longitudinal growth studies. The data show that menarche, the weight growth spurt, and maximum weight gain all occur at a consistent mean weight, with late maturers taller, indicating a critical weight drives these events and may explain the trend toward earlier menarche.

Abstract

Height and weight at menarche were found for each subject in three longitudinal growth studies. Early and late maturing girls have menarche at the same mean weight, but late maturers are taller at menarche. Two other major events of adolescence, initiation of the weight growth spurt and maximum rate of weight gain, also occur at an invariant mean weight. The hypothesis is proposed that a critical body weight may trigger each of these adolescent events. Such an interaction would explain the secular trend to an earlier menarche.