Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Early menarche affects the mental and physical health of girls, but the evidence of the association between birth weight/rapid weight gain and early menarche is inconsistent. We conduct this systematic review and meta-analysis to explore their relationship. METHODS: We systematically searched for studies published before September 16, 2023 in Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library. Studies that explored the relationship between birth weight/rapid weight gain and early menarche were included in our study. Data for every included study was independently extracted and evaluated by two authors. Statistical analyses was performed by RevMan version 5.3 or R version 3.4.1. RESULTS: People with high birth weight had a reduced risk of early menarche (RR = 0.91, 95%CI: 0.84-0.98). Rapid weight gain was associated with an increased risk of early menarche (RR = 1.41, 95%CI:1.01-1.96). Sensitivity analysis supported the stability of the results. CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that high birth weight was associated with a reduced risk of early menarche, the rapid weight gain was associated with an increased risk of early menarche. This indicated that monitoring birth weight and weight gain in early infancy may reduce the occurrence of early menarche.