Cardiometabolic Risk Profile Among Young Adult Females With a History of Premature Adrenarche

CONTEXT: Premature adrenarche (PA) is associated with childhood overweight and hyperinsulinemia; the long-term cardiometabolic outcome is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To study cardiometabolic profile in adult women with previous PA. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: Thirty women with PA and 41 control subjects were followed from prepuberty to young adulthood. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and clinical and biochemical cardiovascular risk factors. RESULTS: There were no differences in the prevalence of MetS or in any parameters indicating dyslipidemia, hypertension, hepatosteatosis, atherosclerosis, or low-grade inflammation between the study groups. However, prevalence of insulin resistance (IR; P = 0.014) and acanthosis nigricans (P = 0.010) was higher in the PA group. Neither fasting glucose nor insulin concentrations differed between the study groups, but HbA1c [adjusted for body mass index (BMI) P = 0.011] and Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (P = 0.044; BMI-adjusted P = nonsignificant) were higher in the PA group. Although BMI and fat percentage were comparable between the study groups, the PA group had higher central fat mass than the control group. In the whole study population, MetS and IR were associated with greater adult fat mass, but no prepubertal factors predicting later IR were found. CONCLUSION: PA does not seem to be associated with MetS, dyslipidemia, hypertension, atherosclerosis, or low-grade inflammation in young adult women. However, some women with PA may be at an increased risk of unfavorable glucose metabolism, which is associated with increased central adiposity at adult age rather than determined by prepubertal factors.