BACKGROUND Age at menarche is considered a reliable prognostic factor for idiopathic scoliosis and varies in different geographic latitudes. Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis prevalence has also been reported to be different in various latitudes and demonstrates higher values in northern countries. A study on epidemiological reports from the literature was conducted to investigate a possible asso...

BACKGROUND Menarche age is an important indicator of reproductive health of a woman or a community. In industrial societies, age at menarche has been declining over the last 150 years with a secular trend, and similar trends have been reported in some developing countries. Menarche age is affected by genetic and environmental cues, including nutrition. The study was designed to determine the ag...

BACKGROUND A growing number of studies suggest a link between timing of menarche and risk of depressive symptoms in adolescence, but few have prospectively examined the emergence of depressive symptoms from late childhood into adolescence. AIMS To examine whether girls who experience earlier menarche than their peers have higher levels of depressive symptoms in adolescence. METHOD The study...

AIM To examine the long term effect of bone marrow transplantation (BMT) on ovarian function in girls. METHODS Eighteen girls who underwent BMT before menarche, had been disease free for more than six years, and were over 14 years of age at the time of study were investigated. The preparative regimen consisted of irradiation and chemotherapy. The occurrence of menarche and changes in basal se...

OBJECTIVES The object of this study was to determine the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and early menarche in adolescent girls in Seoul. METHODS A retrospective study was conducted with 144 middle school students in Seoul who provided informed consent. We measured their body composition, and used the questionnaire survey method for data collection from November to December 2008. P...

OBJECTIVE To study the effects of early metformin treatment on menarche, height, and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) markers. Low-birthweight (LBW) girls with precocious pubarche (PP) are at risk for an early menarche (<12 years), an adult stature below target level, and PCOS. Hyperinsulinemic insulin resistance is thought to be a key factor. DESIGN Open-label, randomized study. SETTING Un...

Absence of the biological father in early childhood has been linked to depressive symptoms in mid-adolescent girls. Earlier studies have linked father absence to early timing of menarche, and early menarche is a risk factor for increased depressive symptoms in adolescence. No studies, however, have examined whether the association between father absence and depressive symptoms may be explained ...

OBJECTIVE We sought to examine whether age at menarche has changed over the past 4 decades by comparing age at menarche by year of diagnosis with type 1 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS This work consisted of a cross-sectional study of age at menarche in two cohorts: adolescents (ages 11-24 years, n = 228) and adults (ages 19-55 years, n = 290, enrolled in the Coronary Artery Calcificati...

The objective was to analyze the relationship between socioeconomic status and age at menarche among indigenous and non-indigenous girls in the Araucanía Region of Chile, controlling for nutritional status and mother's age at menarche. A total of 8,624 randomly selected girls from 168 schools were screened, resulting in the selection of 207 indigenous and 200 non-indigenous girls who had recent...

Menstrual cycles are a key driver of reproductive events in women, which is a physiological process and associated with the ability to reproduce. A period, or menstruation, marks the beginning of the process by which the uterus, or womb, prepares itself for pregnancy. Each month the lining of the uterus, called the endometrium, is shed from the body, producing a period, and a new lining is grow...