Longitudinal antimüllerian hormone and its correlation with pubertal milestones

Abstract

Objective: To examine the changes in AMH levels longitudinally over time and their relationship with both body composition, particularly abdominal adiposity, and milestones of pubertal development in female children. Design: Secondary analysis of a prospective, longitudinal study. Setting: University affiliated research center and laboratories. Patient(s): Eighty-nine females were examined between 1990 and 2015 to study child growth and development. Intervention(s): Demographic, anthropometric, growth, and pubertal milestone data with serum samples stored and subsequently analyzed for AMH. Main Outcome Measure(s): Longitudinal change in AMH and predicted AMH levels based on body composition, age, and pubertal milestones including, pubarche, thelarche, and menarche. Result(s): Natural log-transformed AMH (AMHlog) levels appeared to have a nonlinear relationship with age, decreasing between 10 and 14 years of age, increasing until 16 years. A mixed effect linear model demonstrated that increased abdominal adiposity (waist/height ratio, WHtR) was significantly associated with the predicted increased AMHlog levels (β=1.37). As females progressed through the Tanner stages, the model predicted decreasing AMHlog values when adjusting for age and WHtR. Conclusion(s): Declining AMH levels during puberty may not be reflective of diminished ovarian reserve as observed in adults, but may suggest a permissive role of AMH in the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis.

Keywords

• Antimüllerian hormone
• menarche
• puberty
• pubarche
• thelarche