Age at Menarche: Environmental Influence and Association with Adult Anthropometric Measures

The present study reports menarcheal age of girls from Kraków area (Poland) and its association with socio-demographic variable and body size in young adulthood. The data was obtained from 1,785 girls, aged between 16 and 18 years. The mean age at menarche determined by retrospective recall was 13.04±1.12. ANOVA and multiple – comparison test – LSD were applied to test significance of social class differences in the tempo of maturation. It was found that there is a distinct connection between the socio-economic factor and menarcheal age. In addition, results of present study indicated that there is a positive association between age at menarche and final attained height and inverse relationship between weigh and body mass index (BMI) in young adulthood.