“Growth tempo” was coined from the musical term to indicate how fast an individual reaches their full adult height [22]. It has long been recognised that some children are “rapid maturers,” who are larger than their peers only transiently during childhood [23,24]. The contrasting associations we observed between earlier menarche and shorter adult height in the mothers, yet with taller offspring height during childhood indicate that many individuals who show rapid infancy growth and are taller than average during childhood are likely destined to be relatively shorter as adults. Whether age at puberty influences adult height has been debated [25]; however, recent large international studies support our current finding [26], and it is likely that earlier studies were underpowered. Recognition of such potentially large differences in growth tempo may help to clarify the often variable life-course associations reported between childhood growth and adult disease risks [27]. Our findings suggest that growth tempo is a heritable trait that becomes established very early on, within the first two years of life.
