Adiposity in relation to age at menarche and other reproductive factors among 300 000 Chinese women: Findings from China Kadoorie Biobank study

China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) collaborative group

doi:10.1093/ije/dyw165

Adiposity in relation to age at menarche and other reproductive factors among 300 000 Chinese women: Findings from China Kadoorie Biobank study

China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) collaborative group

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Abstract

Background: Adiposity is increasing rapidly in China but little is known about the relevance to it of women’s reproductive factors, which differ inter-generationally and from that in the West. We assess associations of adiposity with life-course reproductive factors in Chinese women.

Methods: In 2004–08, the nationwide China Kadoorie Biobank recruited 303 000 women aged 30–79 (mean 50) years from 10 diverse regions. Multivariable linear regression was used to examine associations of reproductive factors (e.g. age at menarche/first birth/ menopause, parity, breastfeeding and reproductive years) with measures of general [e.g. body mass index (BMI)] and central [e.g. waist circumference (WC)] adiposity in adulthood.

Results: Overall, the mean BMI was 23.7 (standard deviation 3.3) kg/m², mean age at menarche was 15 (2) years and nearly all had given birth (99%) and breastfed children (98%). Adiposity was associated inversely with age at menarche and at first birth, with 0.19 and 0.05 kg/m² lower BMI and 0.38 and 0.12 cm lower WC per 1-year delay respectively (P < 0.001). Among 128 259 post-menopausal women, adiposity was associated positively with age at menopause and reproductive years, with 0.05 and 0.07 kg/m² higher BMI and 0.12 and 0.17 cm higher WC per 1-year increase, respectively (P < 0.001). The proportion with overweight/obesity had similar associations with these reproductive factors. Adiposity had a non-linear positive association with parity, but no association with breastfeeding duration.

Conclusion: Among Chinese women, earlier age at menarche and at first birth, later age at menopause and longer reproductive years were independently associated with increased adiposity late in life.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	502-512
Number of pages	11
Journal	International Journal of Epidemiology
Volume	46
Issue number	2
Early online date	16 Aug 2016
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyw165
Publication status	Published - Apr 2017
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License

Funder

Funding Information:
The CKB baseline survey and the first re-survey were supported by the Kadoorie Charitable Foundation in Hong Kong. The long-term follow-up is supported by the UK Wellcome Trust (088158/Z/09/Z, 104085/Z/14/Z), the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (2011BAI09B01) and the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation (81390541). The British Heart Foundation, the UK Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK provide core funding to the Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit at Oxford University for the project.

Keywords

Adiposity
Chinese
Cross-sectional studies
Reproductive factors
Women

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Epidemiology

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1093/ije/dyw165Licence: CC BY

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Cite this

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title = "Adiposity in relation to age at menarche and other reproductive factors among 300 000 Chinese women: Findings from China Kadoorie Biobank study",

abstract = "Background: Adiposity is increasing rapidly in China but little is known about the relevance to it of women{\textquoteright}s reproductive factors, which differ inter-generationally and from that in the West. We assess associations of adiposity with life-course reproductive factors in Chinese women. Methods: In 2004–08, the nationwide China Kadoorie Biobank recruited 303 000 women aged 30–79 (mean 50) years from 10 diverse regions. Multivariable linear regression was used to examine associations of reproductive factors (e.g. age at menarche/first birth/ menopause, parity, breastfeeding and reproductive years) with measures of general [e.g. body mass index (BMI)] and central [e.g. waist circumference (WC)] adiposity in adulthood.Results: Overall, the mean BMI was 23.7 (standard deviation 3.3) kg/m2, mean age at menarche was 15 (2) years and nearly all had given birth (99%) and breastfed children (98%). Adiposity was associated inversely with age at menarche and at first birth, with 0.19 and 0.05 kg/m2 lower BMI and 0.38 and 0.12 cm lower WC per 1-year delay respectively (P < 0.001). Among 128 259 post-menopausal women, adiposity was associated positively with age at menopause and reproductive years, with 0.05 and 0.07 kg/m2 higher BMI and 0.12 and 0.17 cm higher WC per 1-year increase, respectively (P < 0.001). The proportion with overweight/obesity had similar associations with these reproductive factors. Adiposity had a non-linear positive association with parity, but no association with breastfeeding duration. Conclusion: Among Chinese women, earlier age at menarche and at first birth, later age at menopause and longer reproductive years were independently associated with increased adiposity late in life.",

keywords = "Adiposity, Chinese, Cross-sectional studies, Reproductive factors, Women",

author = "{China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) collaborative group} and Ling Yang and Liming Li and Millwood, {Iona Y.} and Sarah Lewington and Yu Guo and Paul Sherliker and Peters, {Sanne A.E.} and Zheng Bian and Xianping Wu and Min Yu and Huilin Liu and Hongmei Wang and Enke Mao and Junshi Chen and Mark Woodward and Richard Peto and Zhengming Chen and Junshi Chen and Zhengming Chen and Rory Collins and Liming Li and Daniel Avery and Derrick Bennett and Yumei Chang and Yiping Chen and Zhengming Chen and Robert Clarke and Huaidong Du and Xuejuan Fan and Simon Gilbert and Alex Hacker and Michael Holmes and Andri Iona and Christiana Kartsonaki and Rene Kerosi and Ling Kong and Om Kurmi and Garry Lancaster and John McDonnell and Winnie Mei and Qunhua Nie and Jayakrishnan Radhakrishnan and Sajjad Rafiq and Paul Ryder and Sam Sansome and Dan Schmidt and Paul Sherliker and Rajani Sohoni and Iain Turnbull and Robin Walters",

note = "{\textcopyright} The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License",

year = "2017",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1093/ije/dyw165",

language = "English",

volume = "46",

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T1 - Adiposity in relation to age at menarche and other reproductive factors among 300 000 Chinese women

T2 - Findings from China Kadoorie Biobank study

AU - China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB) collaborative group

AU - Yang, Ling

AU - Li, Liming

AU - Millwood, Iona Y.

AU - Lewington, Sarah

AU - Guo, Yu

AU - Sherliker, Paul

AU - Peters, Sanne A.E.

AU - Bian, Zheng

AU - Wu, Xianping

AU - Yu, Min

AU - Liu, Huilin

AU - Wang, Hongmei

AU - Mao, Enke

AU - Chen, Junshi

AU - Woodward, Mark

AU - Peto, Richard

AU - Chen, Zhengming

AU - Chen, Junshi

AU - Chen, Zhengming

AU - Collins, Rory

AU - Li, Liming

AU - Avery, Daniel

AU - Bennett, Derrick

AU - Chang, Yumei

AU - Chen, Yiping

AU - Chen, Zhengming

AU - Clarke, Robert

AU - Du, Huaidong

AU - Fan, Xuejuan

AU - Gilbert, Simon

AU - Hacker, Alex

AU - Holmes, Michael

AU - Iona, Andri

AU - Kartsonaki, Christiana

AU - Kerosi, Rene

AU - Kong, Ling

AU - Kurmi, Om

AU - Lancaster, Garry

AU - McDonnell, John

AU - Mei, Winnie

AU - Nie, Qunhua

AU - Radhakrishnan, Jayakrishnan

AU - Rafiq, Sajjad

AU - Ryder, Paul

AU - Sansome, Sam

AU - Schmidt, Dan

AU - Sherliker, Paul

AU - Sohoni, Rajani

AU - Turnbull, Iain

AU - Walters, Robin

N1 - © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License

PY - 2017/4

Y1 - 2017/4

N2 - Background: Adiposity is increasing rapidly in China but little is known about the relevance to it of women’s reproductive factors, which differ inter-generationally and from that in the West. We assess associations of adiposity with life-course reproductive factors in Chinese women. Methods: In 2004–08, the nationwide China Kadoorie Biobank recruited 303 000 women aged 30–79 (mean 50) years from 10 diverse regions. Multivariable linear regression was used to examine associations of reproductive factors (e.g. age at menarche/first birth/ menopause, parity, breastfeeding and reproductive years) with measures of general [e.g. body mass index (BMI)] and central [e.g. waist circumference (WC)] adiposity in adulthood.Results: Overall, the mean BMI was 23.7 (standard deviation 3.3) kg/m2, mean age at menarche was 15 (2) years and nearly all had given birth (99%) and breastfed children (98%). Adiposity was associated inversely with age at menarche and at first birth, with 0.19 and 0.05 kg/m2 lower BMI and 0.38 and 0.12 cm lower WC per 1-year delay respectively (P < 0.001). Among 128 259 post-menopausal women, adiposity was associated positively with age at menopause and reproductive years, with 0.05 and 0.07 kg/m2 higher BMI and 0.12 and 0.17 cm higher WC per 1-year increase, respectively (P < 0.001). The proportion with overweight/obesity had similar associations with these reproductive factors. Adiposity had a non-linear positive association with parity, but no association with breastfeeding duration. Conclusion: Among Chinese women, earlier age at menarche and at first birth, later age at menopause and longer reproductive years were independently associated with increased adiposity late in life.

AB - Background: Adiposity is increasing rapidly in China but little is known about the relevance to it of women’s reproductive factors, which differ inter-generationally and from that in the West. We assess associations of adiposity with life-course reproductive factors in Chinese women. Methods: In 2004–08, the nationwide China Kadoorie Biobank recruited 303 000 women aged 30–79 (mean 50) years from 10 diverse regions. Multivariable linear regression was used to examine associations of reproductive factors (e.g. age at menarche/first birth/ menopause, parity, breastfeeding and reproductive years) with measures of general [e.g. body mass index (BMI)] and central [e.g. waist circumference (WC)] adiposity in adulthood.Results: Overall, the mean BMI was 23.7 (standard deviation 3.3) kg/m2, mean age at menarche was 15 (2) years and nearly all had given birth (99%) and breastfed children (98%). Adiposity was associated inversely with age at menarche and at first birth, with 0.19 and 0.05 kg/m2 lower BMI and 0.38 and 0.12 cm lower WC per 1-year delay respectively (P < 0.001). Among 128 259 post-menopausal women, adiposity was associated positively with age at menopause and reproductive years, with 0.05 and 0.07 kg/m2 higher BMI and 0.12 and 0.17 cm higher WC per 1-year increase, respectively (P < 0.001). The proportion with overweight/obesity had similar associations with these reproductive factors. Adiposity had a non-linear positive association with parity, but no association with breastfeeding duration. Conclusion: Among Chinese women, earlier age at menarche and at first birth, later age at menopause and longer reproductive years were independently associated with increased adiposity late in life.

KW - Adiposity

KW - Chinese

KW - Cross-sectional studies

KW - Reproductive factors

KW - Women

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DO - 10.1093/ije/dyw165

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SN - 0300-5771

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JO - International Journal of Epidemiology

JF - International Journal of Epidemiology

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Adiposity in relation to age at menarche and other reproductive factors among 300 000 Chinese women: Findings from China Kadoorie Biobank study

Abstract

Bibliographical note

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Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

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