title: Menarcheal and pubertal development and determining factors among schoolgirls in Kumasi, Ghana.
abstract: To determine menarcheal and pubertal ages and possible factors responsible for current pubertal trends in Kumasi, Ghana, a cross-sectional study was conducted among 720 urban and rural Kumasi 7-17-year-old schoolgirls and their mothers in 2008. Heights and weights were measured and additional information obtained by survey. Mantel-Haenzsel, χ(2), ordered logistic regression and probit analyses were used to analyse the data collected. With 40.42% menarcheal prevalence, median menarcheal ages were significantly different: 12.37 ± 1.48 years urban and 13.41 ± 2.25 years rural; 12.89 ± 1.93 years, overall. Obesity (OR = 2.57; p = 0.033) and high socioeconomic status (OR = 2.12; p = 0.008) were predictors of early menarche, while a younger mother was protective against early menarche (OR = 0.32; p = 0.039). Age at menarche among Kumasi schoolgirls has dropped 0.76 years since it was last determined among similarly aged girls in 1986, declining at a rate of about 0.32 years/decade. The predicting factors provide an important opportunity for intervention through school curricula and targeted education of adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA. poparead@gmail.com
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Opare-Addo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stowe
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ankobea-Kokroe
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005869:Ghana / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008572:Menarche; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D011627:Puberty; D012741:Sexual Maturation; D012923:Social Class