One-year changes in weight and fatness in girls during late adolescence.
OBJECTIVE
To document postmenarcheal growth and changes in weight and fatness in girls.


METHODS
Mixed longitudinal study to determine yearly growth increments.


METHODS
Six hundred sixty-eight postmenarcheal girls, initially ages 13 to 17 years, from two Philadelphia high schools. Overall, 61.4% of the girls were white, 15.7% black, 16.8% Puerto Rican Hispanic, and 6.1% of other ethnicities (non-Puerto Rican Hispanic or Asian).


METHODS
Height (in centimeters), weight (in kilograms), and triceps and subscapular skinfold thicknesses (in millimeters) were measured initially and after 1 year. The anthropometric measures were analyzed both cross-sectionally by age cohort and longitudinally.


RESULTS
Viewed cross-sectionally by chronologic age groups and adjusted for ethnicity, gynecologic age, cigarette smoking, and late maturation (menarche > or = 14 years), there were no statistically significant trends with age in height, weight, body mass index (kilograms per m2), triceps, or subscapular skinfold thicknesses. Nevertheless, there were significant trends in velocity with increasing chronologic age. On the average, postmenarcheal girls gained about 6.5 kg (14.3 lb) during late adolescence from about 1.5 years after menarche to age 18 years. Height and triceps skinfolds showed significantly decreasing velocities, whereas there was a significant monotonic increase in velocity with age for skinfolds at the subscapular site.


CONCLUSIONS
Even with normal weight gain during late adolescence in girls, there seems to be greater potential for fat deposition centrally. Thus, excessive weight gain during late adolescence may exacerbate the normal processes of fat deposition, leading to large gains in central fat, and thereby increasing the long-term risk for metabolic and cardiovascular diseases later in life.
Hediger
M L
ML
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Osteopathic Medicine, Camden 08103, USA.
Scholl
T O
TO
Schall
J I
JI
Cronk
C E
CE
D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000375:Aging; D044383:Black People; D001824:Body Constitution; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006128:Growth; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008572:Menarche; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D011647:Puerto Rico / Q000208:ethnology; D012741:Sexual Maturation; D012885:Skinfold Thickness; D012907:Smoking; D015430:Weight Gain; D044465:White People