title: Age of Onset of Puberty in Apparently Healthy School Girls from Northern India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the age of pubertal onset and menarche in school-going girls, and to assess the impact of obesity on pubertal timing.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seven schools across Delhi, India.
  
  
  METHODS
  2010 school girls, aged 6-17 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Anthropometric measurement and pubertal staging was performed for all subjects. Menarche was recorded by status quo method. Body mass index was used to define overweight/obesity. Serum gonadotropins and serum estradiol were measured in every sixth participant.
  
  
  METHODS
  Age at thelarche and menarche analyzed for entire cohort and stratified based on body mass index.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Median (95% CI) ages of thelarche, pubarche and menarche were 10.8 (10.7-10.9) y, 11.0. y (10.8-11.2) y and 12.4 y (12.2-12.5) y. Overweight/obese girls showed six months earlier onset of thelarche and menarche than those with normal BMI (P<0.05). Serum gonadotropins did not vary significantly in overweight/obese subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study provides the normative data for pubertal growth in Indian girls. Pubertal onset occurs earlier in overweight and obese girls.
authors.affiliation: Departments of *Endocrinology and Metabolism and #Biostatistics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences; Sur Homeopathic Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre, and International Life Sciences Institute; New Delhi, India. Correspondence to: Major General RK Marwaha, Flat No. 17, Gautam Apartments, Gautam Nagar, New Delhi 110 049, India. marwaha_ramank@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Rajesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Khadgawat
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Marwaha
authors.forename: Neena
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mehan
authors.forename: Vineet
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Surana
authors.forename: Aashima
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dabas
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sreenivas
authors.forename: M Ashraf
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Gaine
authors.forename: Nandita
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gupta
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008572:Menarche / Q000502:physiology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*