Age at menarche and body mass index: a population study.
OBJECTIVE
To test the hypothesis that age at menarche is inversely related to body mass index (BMI).


METHODS
A questionnaire was filled in by 11,293 young women at the time of discharge from compulsory military service, in order to determine the self-reported age at onset of menarche. The participants were weighed and measured and BMI was calculated. Obesity was defined as BMI >30 and leanness as BMI <20.


RESULTS
The age at menarche was significantly and inversely correlated with BMI (R = -0.11, p <0.001). The age at menarche of obese women (12.9+/-1.3 years) was significantly lower than that of non-obese, non-lean women (13.3+/-1.4 years), who themselves had a lower age at menarche than lean women (13.5+/-1.4 years) (p <0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude from our data that the relationship between BMI and pubertal development in girls appears to be a continuum.
Mandel
Dror
D
Medical Corps, Israel Defense Forces, Israel. mandelrd@netvision.net.il
Zimlichman
Eyal
E
Mimouni
Francis B
FB
Grotto
Itamar
I
Kreiss
Yitshak
Y
D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008572:Menarche / Q000502:physiology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires