Global Burden of Diseases Attributable to Early Maturation in 2021

ABSTRACT Early maturation poses a considerable health challenge worldwide. We aim to quantify the global disease burden attributable to early maturation in 2021. We calculated sex‐specific and region‐specific population attributable fractions (PAFs) of diseases through meta‐analysis and Mendelian randomization. The age‐standardized incidence rate (ASIR) with 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) of these diseases, stratified by sex, age, and development status were estimated using the Global Burden of Diseases database. Asthma, Type 2 diabetes, ischemic heart disease, stroke, uterine cancer, testicular cancer, and depression was causally related with early maturation, with PAF ranging from 7.7% for uterine cancer to 0.8% for Type 2 diabetes. About 11.2 million new attributable cases occurs, with an ASIR of 210.1 (95% UI 155.1–280.7) cases per 100,000, with higher PAF in females (3.4%) than in males (2.3%). The ASIR was highest in North America (405.5, 309.0–526.3 cases per 100,000) and lowest in East Asia and the Pacific (120.8, 89.6–160.3 cases per 100,000). More developed regions showed 1.4 times higher incidence burden (ASIR 268.5, 199.6–356.6 cases per 100,000) than less developed regions. Therefore, regional adoption of effective public health interventions to alleviate early maturation, notably for females in more developed regions, has enormous potential to reduce worldwide disease burden.