This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Freedman, D. S.
Right arrow Articles by Berenson, G. S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Freedman, D. S.
Right arrow Articles by Berenson, G. S.
Related Collections
Right arrow Adolescent Medicine

PEDIATRICS Vol. 110 No. 4 October 2002, pp. e43

ELECTRONIC ARTICLE

Relation of Age at Menarche to Race, Time Period, and Anthropometric Dimensions: The Bogalusa Heart Study

David S. Freedman, PhD*, Laura Kettel Khan, PhD*, Mary K. Serdula, MD, MPH*, William H. Dietz, MD, PhD*, Sathanur R. Srinivasan, PhD{ddagger} and Gerald S. Berenson, MD{ddagger}

* Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia
{ddagger} Tulane Center for Cardiovascular Health, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana

--> Objective. To assess secular trends in menarcheal age between 1973 and 1994 and to determine whether childhood levels of height, weight, and skinfold thicknesses can account for racial (white/black) differences in menarcheal age.

Methods. Data from 7 cross-sectional examinations of school-aged children, with menarcheal age obtained through interviews, were used for both cross-sectional (11 218 observations) and longitudinal (n = 2058) analyses. In the latter analyses, the baseline examination was performed between ages 5.0 and 9.9 years, and the mean follow-up was 6 years.

Results. Black girls experienced menarche, on average, 3 months earlier than did white girls (12.3 vs 12.6 years), and during the 20-year study period, the median menarcheal age decreased by approximately 9.5 months among black girls versus approximately 2 months among white girls. As compared with 5- to 9-year-old white girls, black girls were taller and weighed more, characteristics that were predictive of a relatively early (before age 11.0 years) menarche. However, even after adjustment for weight, height, and other characteristics, the rate of early menarche remained 1.4-fold higher among black girls than among white girls.

Conclusions. Additional study of the determinants of menarcheal age is needed, as the timing of pubertal maturation may influence the risk of various diseases in adulthood.

Key Words: menarche • obesity • blacks • height • secular trend

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index • RR, rate ratio

Received for publication Mar 18, 2002; Accepted Jun 13, 2002.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 IBMS BoneKEyHome page
J.-P. Bonjour and T. Chevalley
Pubertal Timing, Peak Bone Mass and Fragility Fracture Risk
IBMS BoneKEy, February 1, 2007; 4(2): 30 - 48.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Am. J. Clin. Nutr.Home page
E. W Demerath, J. Li, S. S Sun, W C. Chumlea, K. E Remsberg, S. A Czerwinski, B. Towne, and R. M Siervogel
Fifty-year trends in serial body mass index during adolescence in girls: the Fels Longitudinal Study
Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, August 1, 2004; 80(2): 441 - 446.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]