A girl's genetics can indirectly influence the age when she has her first period, by accelerating her weight gain in childhood, a new study finds.
A number of other genes also can directly affect the age of puberty, some with profound effects, researchers added.
More than 1,000 genetic variants are tied to the age of a girl's first menstrual period, researchers discovered by analyzing the genes of about 800,000 women. About 600 of these variants were observed for the first time in this study.
A girl can have up to 14-fold higher risk of early puberty if her genetics line up that way, according to a genetic risk score researchers created from their findings.
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