Early menarche and depressive symptoms from adolescence to young adulthood in a UK cohort

Objective: To examine whether early menarche is associated with depressive symptoms from adolescence to young adulthood.

Method: The study is based on 3,648 girls from a large UK birth cohort (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children) who provided data on age at onset of menarche and at least 1 measure of depressive symptoms assessed using the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire at ages 13, 14, 16.5, 18, and 19 years. Depressive symptoms were examined as binary outcomes (sum score ≥11) and continuous latent traits (using confirmatory factor analysis). Results were adjusted for socioeconomic disadvantage, paternal absence, and body mass index (BMI).

Results: In early to midadolescence, there was strong evidence for increased odds of depressive symptoms in girls with early compared with late menarche. Differences remained after adjusting for confounders (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 2.07, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.28-3.35 at 13 years; OR = 2.09, 95% CI = 1.41-3.09 at 14 years). At the later time points there was weak evidence for an association between early menarche and depressive symptoms in the unadjusted models. Adjusting for confounders explained a moderate amount of the effect (adjusted OR = 1.26, 95% CI = 0.86-1.85 at 16.5 years; OR = 1.33, 95% CI = 0.91-1.95 at 18 years; and OR = 1.40, 95% CI = 0.93-2.13 at 19 years). Findings were similar when we repeated the analysis using continuous depressive symptom latent traits.

Conclusions: Girls who experience earlier menarche than their peers have increased levels of depressive symptoms in early to midadolescence, but there is little evidence for an effect of early menarche on depressive symptoms in later adolescence and young adulthood.