Distinct body mass index trajectories throughout childhood in girls with early puberty

Pediatric Research ( 2026 ) Cite this article

Early pubertal development in girls has been associated with increased adiposity in childhood. However, longitudinal body mass index (BMI) trajectories preceding the diagnosis of precocious puberty (PP) or premature adrenarche (PA) are less well described. We hypothesized that distinct BMI trajectories leading to overweight or obesity could be identified already in infancy and early childhood in these girls.

In this nationwide register-based study, longitudinal data from Danish health registries were used to examine BMI trajectories from birth to 10 years of age. Girls diagnosed with PP or PA were analyzed separately using latent class trajectory analysis.