Does second-to-fourth digit length ratio (2D:4D) predict age at menarche in women?
Prenatal steroid levels, estimated as the ratio of second-to-fourth digit length (2D:4D), have been related to reproductive success in women, but direct associations between 2D:4D and physiological measures of fertility remain rare. A recent study reported that lower, masculinized right hand 2D:4D was correlated with delayed age at menarche in women. We addressed this question by investigating whether 2D:4D was associated with recalled age at menarche in 282 post-reproductive Finnish women, using Cox regression model that controlled for a woman's sibling composition, urban or rural residence and temporal trend in menarcheal age. We found no evidence that neither the 2D:4D of the right nor the left hand were related to a woman's age at menarche among these Finnish women.
Department of Biology, Section of Ecology, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku, Finland. sayrhe@utu.fi
Samuli
S
Helle
D015331:Cohort Studies; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D005385:Fingers / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D008572:Menarche; D008875:Middle Aged; D012111:Residence Characteristics