Childhood adversity and pubertal timing: Understanding the origins of adulthood cardiovascular risk

Objective: To determine whether greater childhood adversity relates to younger menarcheal age; whether younger menarcheal age relates to increased CVD risk; and whether greater childhood adversity relates to increased CVD risk, directly or indirectly (mediated by menarcheal age). Methods: Among 650 pre-menopausal women (ages 25-45; M = 34.9[5.6]), SEM was performed to estimate relations between childhood adversity, menarcheal age, and CVD risk. Results: Results supported a covariate-adjusted model (RMSEA = 0.035; CFI = 0.983) in which greater childhood adversity was related to younger menarcheal age (beta = -.13, p < .01) and younger menarcheal age was related to greater CVD risk (beta = -.18, p < .05). Direct and indirect effects of childhood adversity on CVD risk were non-significant. Re-evaluation of the same model with additional covariate-adjustment for adulthood body composition showed the relation between menarcheal age and CVD risk attenuated (beta = -.03, p = .376). Conclusions: Cross-sectional evidence suggests family-related adversity experiences in childhood confer risk for earlier menarche which, in turn, relates to increased CVD risk in adulthood, possibly via postpubertal body size. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.