Do movement behaviours influence the association between early menarche and depression symptoms among Brazilian adolescents?

Early menarche has been associated with adverse health outcomes, such as depressive symptoms. Discovering effect modifiers across these conditions in the pediatric population is a constant challenge. We tested whether movement behaviours modified the effect of the association between early menarche and depression symptoms among adolescents. This cross-sectional study included 2,031 females aged 15 to 19 years across all Brazilian geographic regions. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire; 30.5% (n=620) reported having experienced menarche before age 12 years (i.e., early menarche). We used the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) to evaluate depressive symptoms. Accruing any moderate-vigorous physical activity during leisure time, limited recreational screen time, and having good sleep quality were the exposures investigated. Adolescents who experienced early menarche and met one (B: -4.45, 95%CI: [-5.38, -3.51]), two (B: -6.07 [-7.02, -5.12]) or three (B: -6.49 [-7.76, -5.21]), and adolescents who experienced not early menarche and met one (B: -5.33 [-6.20; -4.46]), two (B: -6.12 [-6.99; -5.24]), or three (B: -6.27 [-7.30; -5.24]) of the movement behaviour targets had lower PHQ-9 scores for depression symptoms than adolescents who experienced early menarche and did not meet any of the movement behaviours. The disparities in depressive symptoms among the adolescents (early menarche vs. not early menarche) who adhered to all three target behaviours were not statistically significant (B: 0.41 [-0.19; 1.01]). Adherence to movement behaviours modified the effect of the association between early menarche and depression symptoms.