1.Association of early life adversity with allostatic load in girls with precocious puberty
WANG Ya, LI Jing, YUAN Jingyi, ZHANG Gong, LI Ting, XU Qi, ZHOU Yan, SUN Ying
Chinese Journal of School Health 2022;43(11):1690-1694
Objective:
To explore the relationship between early life adversity (ELA) and allostatic load (AL) in girls with precocious puberty, to provide a theoretical basis for early identification of girls at risk of ELA related disease.
Methods:
From September 2019 to September 2021, 150 girls with precocious puberty were recruited in the department of child health of Anhui Provinal Children s Hospital. Parents questionnaires and child interviews were used to collect basic information and early growth adversity experiences. Among 150 blood samples were collected, and 13 biomarkers representing 4 regulatory systems were used to detect unsteady load related indexes. Multivariate linear regression was used to analyze the correlation between early growth adversity experience and AL scores.
Results:
The low education level of parents was positively correlated with the total score of AL( β=1.02, 95%CI= 0.21-1.83, P =0.01). The divorce of parents was positively correlated with cardiovascular AL score( β=0.65, 95%CI= 0.13 -1.17, P =0.01). Peer bullying was negatively correlated with the total score of AL( β=-0.89, 95%CI=-1.64--0.14, P = 0.02 ). Compared with girls with precocious puberty without ELA experience, the total AL score and metabolic system AL score of precocious girls who experienced one kind of ELA increased by 0.75(95% CI=0.04-1.47, P =0.04) and 0.67(95% CI=0.16- 1.18 , P =0.01).
Conclusion
Early life adversity and physiological wear and tear are correlated in girls with precocious puberty. These findings suggest that the effects of early life adversity might be remediated with interventions that target parental education, divorce and peer bullying.