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  • Population Study Article
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Association of obesity and menarche SNPs and interaction with environmental factors on precocious puberty

Pediatric Research (2024)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

Obesity is an important cause for the precocious or early puberty. However, the association between obesity-related loci and the risk of precocious puberty as well as the effect of gene-environment interaction are unclear, especially in the Chinese children population.

Methods

This was a case-control study using baseline data from two cohorts and hospital cases in China. 15 SNPs loci and several environmental factors were included in the analysis of 1201 participants. Chi-square test and logistic regression were used to analyze the association between SNPs and precocious puberty. Additionally, exploratory factor analysis was conducted on 13 environmental variables, and then to explore their interaction with genes on precocious puberty.

Results

The effect allele C of rs571312, and G of rs12970134 MC4R were associated with precocious puberty in girls with obesity. Regarding the gene-environment interaction, we found that when girls were in the high socioeconomic status, the rs571312 (OR: 3.996; 95% CI: 1.694–9.423) and rs12970134 (OR: 3.529; 95% CI: 1.452–8.573) risk genotypes had a greater effect on precocious puberty.

Conclusions

The obesity risk gene polymorphisms MC4R rs571312 and rs12970134 were associated with precocious puberty in Chinese girls with obesity, and girls with risk genotypes and high socioeconomic status should be given extra attention.

Impact

  • This is the first study that identified the association between rs571312 and rs12970134 of MC4R gene and precocious puberty in Chinese children.

  • We found that when girls were in the high socioeconomic status, the risk genotypes of rs571312 and rs12970134 had a greater effect on precocious puberty.

  • The results of this study have great public health implications. It is recommended that girls who are in high socioeconomic status and have a high genetic risk for early sexual maturity should closely monitor their pubertal development and consider early intervention strategies.

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Fig. 1: The interaction between environmental factors and SNPs on precocious puberty in girls, overall and stratified by weight status.

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Data availability

The raw data reported in this paper has been deposited in the Genome Variation Map in National Genomics Data Center, China National Center for Bioinformation / Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, under accession number GVM000377 that can be publicly accessible at http://bigd.big.ac.cn/gvm/getProjectDetail?project= GVM000377.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the staff, as well as all the study participants, their teachers and parents who participated in this study.

Funding

This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [82173534, 81872637].

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Peng Xue, Jingyi Tang, Tingting Yu, Chang Chen & Shijian Liu

  2. Pediatric Translational Medicine Institute, Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Peng Xue & Shijian Liu

  3. Department of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Jianfei Lin

  4. Department of Endocrinology and Genetic Metabolism, Shanghai Children’s Medical Center, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Yao Chen

  5. Office of Hospital Infection Management, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China

    Tingting Yu

  6. Department of Pediatrics, Qufu People’s Hospital, Qufu, Shandong, China

    Huijun Kong

  7. Boai Hospital of Zhongshan, Southern Medical University, Zhongshan, Guangdong, China

    Cuilan Lin

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Contributions

S.L., C.L. and H.K. performed study design and supervision. P.X., T.Y., J.L., J.T. and C.C. collected the data. P.X., J.L., J.T. and Y.C. carried out the data analyses and interpretation. P.X., J.L. and Y.C. drafted the manuscript. S.L. revised the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Shijian Liu.

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Xue, P., Lin, J., Tang, J. et al. Association of obesity and menarche SNPs and interaction with environmental factors on precocious puberty. Pediatr Res (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-024-03168-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-024-03168-6

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