Early puberty has been linked to an increased risk for asthma in women; however, findings are inconsistent across studies, and little research has been done in men. A recent study, published in the journal PLoS Medicine, reports a possible association between early puberty and increased risk of developing asthma in later life among both women and men. These findings suggest a continuous protective effect of increasing age at puberty.
Researchers performed mendelian randomisation analysis on 243,316 women and 192,067 men from the UK Biobank study. Puberty was analysed as menarche for women and voice breaking for men. Age at menarche in females was categorised as early (<12 years), normal (12-14 years) or late (>14 years) whereas age at voice breaking in males was recorded as younger (early), average (normal) or older (late) age.
In females, an 8% (OR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.04-1.12) increase in asthma risk for early menarche and an 8% (OR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.89-0.97) decrease for late menarche were estimated. A very similar pattern was observed in males with a 7% (OR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.00-1.16) increase in asthma risk for early puberty and a 7% (OR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.87-0.99) decrease for late puberty, although the evidence was weaker than in females.
Authors believe that similarity of findings in females and males suggest a possible role for common biological or psychological factors accompanying early pubertal development. They commented: “Our study emphasises the importance of evaluating the overall evidence on health effects of early puberty.”
