title: Predicting pubertal development by infantile and childhood height, BMI, and adiposity rebound.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite substantial heritability in pubertal development, children differ in maturational tempo.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  (i) puberty and its duration are influenced by early changes in height and adiposity. (ii) Adiposity rebound (AR) is a marker for pubertal tempo.
  
  
  METHODS
  We utilized published prospective data from 659 girls and 706 boys of the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. We investigated the age of pubarche-thelarche-gonadarche-menarche as a function of early height, BMI, and AR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In girls, height standard deviation scores correlated negatively with thelarche and pubarche from 15 mo of age and with menarche from 54 mo. BMI correlated negatively with thelarche from 36 mo of age and menarche from 54 mo. In boys, age at gonadarche correlated negatively with height from 36 mo of age. An AR was detected in 47% of girls and 55% of boys, who became heavier and had earlier and faster puberty than those with no AR.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The onset and tempo of puberty are influenced by a two-hit program. The first is exerted during the infancy-childhood transition (ICT; 6-12 mo) and includes height, as an early predictor of maturational tempo. The second hit occurs at the childhood-juvenility transition (5-7 y) and is based on adiposity and its rebound.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Department, Bnai-Zion Medical Center and Clalit HMO, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Alina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: German
authors.affiliation: Bioinformatics Knowledge Unit, The Lokey Center, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shmoish
authors.affiliation: The Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Ze'ev
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hochberg
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity; D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development; D000367:Age Factors; D001827:Body Height; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008572:Menarche; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011627:Puberty; D012737:Sex Factors; D014481:United States