Age at Menarche and its Relationship to Anthropometric Indices in Adolescent Girls

Background Menarche is a substantial and important period in the health of adolescent girls’, and has a significant impact on their health in the upcoming years. Accordingly, in this study, we aimed to not only determine the average age of menarche among high school girls in Qom city, but also to examine the effect of some factors on onset age of menarche. Materials and Methods In this cross-sectional study, a researcher-made questionnaire was presented to 400 girl students from six high schools in Qom city-Iran, including questions about individual characteristics, onset age of menarche in the participant and her mother, and some other indicators related to menarche. Data were analysis using SPSS version 16.0 software. Results From 400 distributed questionnaires 370 (92.5%) were filled correctly and completely. The findings of this study showed that the average age of menarche in girls has been 12.3 ± 1 year and 90% of the subjects had experienced menarche before the age of thirteen. Among the effective factors, a significant relationship was observed between daughters’ onset age of menarche and their mothers’ age (P < 0.01). Weight, Body mass index (BMI), and waist circumference (WC) was inversely and significantly associated age of menarche among the test subjects (P<0.01). Conclusion Based on the findings of this study, there was a high relationship between the onset age of menarche among the mothers and the daughters’ menarche age. Also, our results confirm that higher BMI, weight, and WC were negatively correlated to the age at onset of menarche.

کلیدواژه ها:

adolescent girls ، Body mass index ، Menarche ، waist circumference