title: Neighborhood-Level Poverty at Menarche and Prepregnancy Obesity in African-American Women.
abstract: Introduction. Menarche is a critical time point in a woman's reproductive system development; exposures at menarche may influence maternal health. Living in a poorer neighborhood is associated with adult obesity; however, little is known if neighborhood factors at menarche are associated with prepregnancy obesity. Methods. We examined the association of neighborhood-level poverty at menarche with prepregnancy body mass index category in 144 pregnant African-American women. Address at menarche was geocoded to census tract (closest to year of menarche); neighborhood-level poverty was defined as the proportion of residents living under the federal poverty level. Cumulative logistic regression was used to examine the association of neighborhood-level poverty at menarche, in quartiles, with categorical prepregnancy BMI. Results. Before pregnancy, 59 (41%) women were obese. Compared to women in the lowest neighborhood-level poverty quartile, women in the highest quartile had 2.9 [1.2, 6.9] times higher odds of prepregnancy obesity; this was slightly attenuated after adjusting for age, marital status, education, and parity (odds ratio: 2.3 [0.9, 6.3]). Conclusions. Living in a higher poverty neighborhood at menarche is associated with prepregnancy obesity in African-American women. Future studies are needed to better understand the role of exposures in menarche on health in pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, Henry Ford Hospital, One Ford Place, Detroit, MI 48202, USA.
authors.forename: Andrea E
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8272-4448
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Cassidy-Bushrow
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, Wayne State University, 5557 Cass Avenue, Detroit, MI 48202, USA.
authors.forename: Rosalind M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, Henry Ford Hospital, One Ford Place, Detroit, MI 48202, USA.
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Burmeister
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan, 1415 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
authors.forename: Lawrence F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Bielak
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, Henry Ford Hospital, One Ford Place, Detroit, MI 48202, USA; Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan, 1415 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 221 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Dayna A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008572:Menarche; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D055815:Young Adult