title: Childhood abuse and early menarche among Peruvian women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Childhood abuse has been associated with age of menarche in some studies, but not all, and few have assessed the independent associations of sexual and physical abuse with early menarche. We examined the association between childhood abuse and early menarche among pregnant women in Lima, Peru.
  
  
  METHODS
  Multinomial logistic regression procedures were used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for early menarche (≤11 years) in relation to any physical or sexual childhood abuse, physical abuse only, sexual abuse only, and both physical and sexual abuse in a cohort of 1,499 pregnant (first trimester) women.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Approximately 69% of participants reported experiencing physical or sexual abuse in childhood. The frequencies of physical abuse only, sexual abuse only, and both physical and sexual abuse were 37.4%, 7.7%, and 24.5%, respectively. Compared with women who reported no childhood abuse, those who reported any childhood abuse had a 1.38-fold increased odds of early menarche (95% CI, 1.01-1.87). Compared with no abuse, the odds of early menarche was 1.60-fold among women with childhood sexual abuse only (OR, 1.60; 95% CI, .93-2.74) and 1.56-fold for those with both physical and sexual abuse (OR, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.07-2.25) during childhood. Isolated physical abuse was weakly associated with early menarche (OR, 1.23; 95% CI, .87-1.74). There was no clear evidence of association of childhood abuse with late menarche (≥15 years).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Childhood abuse, particularly joint physical and sexual abuse, is associated with early menarche. Our findings add to an expanding body of studies documenting the enduring adverse health consequences of childhood abuse.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts. Electronic address: ybarrios@hsph.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Yasmin V
authors.initials: YV
authors.lastname: Barrios
authors.affiliation: Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas, Lima, Peru; Asociación Civil PROESA, Lima, Peru.
authors.forename: Sixto E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Sanchez
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nicolaidis
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional Materno Perinatal, Lima, Peru.
authors.forename: Pedro J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Bizu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gelaye
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Qiuyue
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Michelle A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Williams
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008572:Menarche / Q000208:ethnology*; D010568:Peru; D011247:Pregnancy; D037841:Pregnant People; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Age at menarche; Childhood abuse; Peru