There is no consistent result in the relationship between obesity and timing of pubertal onset in boys .
Obesity may contribute to early onset of puberty in girls , while in boys , there is insufficient data .
This systematic review and meta- analysis examined the associations between obesity and puberty timing based on scientific evidence .
Newcastle-Ottawa Scale: comparing reviewers’ to authors’ assessments
Background Lack of appropriate reporting of method ological details has previously been shown to distort risk of bias assessment s in r and omized controlled trials . The same might be true for observational studies . The goal of this study was to compare the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale ( NOS ) assessment for risk of bias between review ers and authors of cohort studies included in a published systematic review on risk factors for severe outcomes in patients infected with influenza . Methods Cohort studies included in the systematic review and published between 2008–2011 were included . The corresponding or first authors completed a survey covering all NOS items . Results were compared with the NOS assessment applied by review ers of the systematic review . Inter-rater reliability was calculated using kappa ( K ) statistics . Results Authors of 65/182 ( 36 % ) studies completed the survey . The overall NOS score was significantly higher ( p < 0.001 ) in the review ers ’ assessment ( median = 6 ; interquartile range [ IQR ] 6–6 ) compared with those by authors ( median = 5 , IQR 4–6 ) . Inter-rater reliability by item ranged from slight ( K = 0.15 , 95 % confidence interval [ CI ] = −0.19 , 0.48 ) to poor ( K = −0.06 , 95 % CI = −0.22 , 0.10 ) . Reliability for the overall score was poor ( K = −0.004 , 95 % CI = −0.11 , 0.11 ) . Conclusions Differences in assessment and low agreement between review ers and authors suggest the need to contact authors for information not published in studies when applying the NOS in systematic review
There is no consistent result in the relationship between obesity and timing of pubertal onset in boys .
Obesity may contribute to early onset of puberty in girls , while in boys , there is insufficient data .
This systematic review and meta- analysis examined the associations between obesity and puberty timing based on scientific evidence .