title: Menarche in Greece (compared study of the population of Crete and Thrace).
abstract: We studied the factors that influence the menarcheal age in the population of Crete and Thrace, and we compared the results of the study of these two frontier districts. A) The average menarcheal age for the female students from Crete was 12 years and 5 1/2 months while for the female students from Thrace it was 12 years and 5 months. B) The average menarcheal age is higher for the students whose birth weight was less than 2.500 gr. C) The higher the father's educational level results in lower average menarcheal age and higher I.Q. level for the student. D) Comparing the average menarcheal ages of mothers and their daughters we conclude that the daughters had their menstruation 11.5 months earlier than their mothers, while that difference was 11 months in Thrace. E) In the last 60 years (1925-1985) the average menarcheal age of the Greek girls decreased by approximately 18 months. F) The body weight and the height during menarche is within the international limits of the "critical weight" and the "critical height".
authors.affiliation: 4th Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Ippocrateion Hospital of Thessaloniki Aristoteleion University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Prapas
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bela
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Prapas
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Papanikolaou
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001724:Birth Weight; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008572:Menarche; D012016:Reference Values; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors