The timing of puberty is complex, possibly involving many genetic factors that may interact with environmental influences. Familial resemblance for age at menarche was studied in a sample of 4,995 female twins, 1,296 sisters, 2,946 mothers and 635 female spouses of male twins. They had indicated their age at menarche as part of a larger longitudinal survey. We assessed assortative mating for ag...

BACKGROUND In Chile, indigenous and non-indigenous schoolchildren have the same stature when they begin school but indigenous adults are shorter, indicating the importance of analyzing growth during puberty. The aim of this study was to compare the growth of indigenous and non-indigenous girls during the 36 months after menarche in Chile's Araucanía Region. METHODS A concurrent cohort study w...

PURPOSE Previous studies suggest that hair products containing endocrine disrupting chemicals could alter puberty. We evaluated the association between childhood hair product use and age at menarche in a racially diverse study population. METHODS We recruited 300 African-American, African-Caribbean, Hispanic, and white women from the New York City metropolitan area who were between 18-77 year...

PURPOSE To examine the relationship between menarcheal age and anthropometric indices and menstrual irregularity in late adolescent girls in Seoul. METHODS We surveyed 4,218 fertile adolescent girls between the ages of 16 and 18 years to determine their anthropometric indices and menarcheal age. Measurements were taken from June 2008 to October 2009 at seven girl's high schools in Seoul, Kore...

BACKGROUND Previous studies of the reproducibility of self-reported age at menarche have been limited because of small study samples, short follow-up and the limited age span of the women included. METHODS The present study assessed the reproducibility of age at menarche in 6731 women with a wide variation of age when giving the information about age at menarche. The women reported age at men...

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...

UNLABELLED BACKGROUND Early age at menarche is associated with increased risk of metabolic syndrome in both China and the West. However, little is known about the impact of age at menarche and metabolic syndrome in South Asian women, including those from low-income country, where age at menarche is also falling. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether age at menarche is inver...

Menarche is an important milestone in the development of female adolescents. The study assessed the age at menarche using recall, its seasonality, and association with marital and nutritional status (using mid-upper arm circumference [MUAC]) among 3,923 female adolescents aged 12-19 years in a rural area of Bangladesh. At the time of assessment, most (88%) adolescents had attained menarche at t...

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...

BACKGROUND Previous studies of mostly Western women have reported inconsistent findings on the association between age at menarche and risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Little is known about the association in China where there has been a large intergenerational decrease in women's mean age at menarche. METHODS The China Kadoorie Biobank recruited 302,632 women aged 30-79 (mean 50.5)years...