Prior research indicates that being reared in stressful environments is associated with earlier onset of menarche in girls. In this research, we examined (a) whether these effects are driven by exposure to certain dimensions of stress (harshness or unpredictability) during the first 5 years of life and (b) whether the negative effects of stress on the timing of menarche are buffered by secure i...

BACKGROUND Despite the increasing rates of childhood obesity and rapid change in socio-economic status, the mean age at menarche remains mostly unknown among contemporary girls in Kuwait and other countries in the Gulf region. This study aimed to estimate the mean age at menarche among schoolgirls in Kuwait and investigate the association between age at menarche and obesity. METHODS A cross-s...

BACKGROUND The most striking event in the whole process of female puberty is the onset of menstruation. To our knowledge, no large population-based studies have been performed on the topic of menstrual health among Italian adolescents in recent years. The aims of this study were to produce up-to-date information on the menstrual pattern of Italian girls attending secondary school, and to estima...

We sought to determine whether average age at menarche (AAM) declined in Chinese girls during the past decades, and whether there were any differences of AAM among urban and rural girls in the mainland of China. The analysis of the study was based on Han schoolgirls aged 9 to 18 years in 22-30 provinces during 6 cycles (1985, 1991, 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010) of Chinese National Survey on Studen...

STUDY QUESTION Do birthweight (BW) and co-twin sex influence the age at menarche in twins? SUMMARY ANSWER BW, but not co-twin sex, was associated with age at menarche in twins. However, BW was not associated with age at menarche after controlling for genetics and shared rearing environment. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Nutritional deprivation during critical developmental periods can trigger long-...

Menarche signifies the primary event in female puberty and is associated with changes in self-identity. It is not clear whether earlier puberty causes girls to spend less time in education. Observational studies on this topic are likely to be affected by confounding environmental factors. The Mendelian randomization (MR) approach addresses these issues by using genetic variants (such as single ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the influence of dietary fibre on menarche in a cohort of pre-menarcheal girls. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING Ontario, Canada. SUBJECTS Free-living pre-menarcheal girls (n = 637), 6 to 14 years of age. METHODOLOGY Information on dietary intake, physical activity and date of menarche was collected at baseline and was updated annually by self-administered ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the relationships between menarcheal timing and both menarcheal experience and attitudes toward menstruation in Mexican girls. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. SETTINGS Sample of adolescents attending 10 different public schools. PARTICIPANTS Mexican postmenarcheal adolescents, aged 11-16 years. INTERVENTION Participants answered 1 questionnaire about menarcheal e...

Sir Girls with Turner syndrome (TS) may encounter a wide range of problems. We aim to describe the body composition and its relation to the pubertal development, in affected girls. Precocious pubarche has been found to be associated with excess total body and central fat mass throughout all pubertal stages 1 . Early menarche has impact on body fatness 2 . In girls with TS, growth hormone (GH) w...