IMPE Abstracts

Objectives: To investigate the associations of obesity with growth and puberty in children.

Methods: From November 2017 to December 2019, height, weight, and Tanner stages of 26879 children aged 3-18 years in Fuzhou, China were assessed.

Results: The obesity group was significantly taller than the non-obesity group after 4 years-old for both genders, yet there was no significant difference in height between obesity and non-obesity group after 15.5 years old for boys and 12.5 years old for girls. The inflection points of significant growth deceleration in obesity and non-obesity groups were 14.4 and 14.6 years old for boys, and 11.8 and 12.8 years old for girls, respectively. The proportions of testicular development in boys with obesity and non- obesity were 7.96% and 5.08% at 8.5-8.9 years old, respectively, while the proportions of breast development in girls were 17.19% and 3.22% at age 7.5-7.9 years old, respectively.

Conclusions: Obesity begets growth acceleration in early childhood, earlier onset of puberty and premature growth arrest in puberty. However, there was sex dimorphism in the effect of obesity on the incidence of precocious puberty.