%0 Journal Article
%T The Secular Tendency of the Age at  Menarche in a Representative Sample  of Mexican Girls from an Urban Zone in  Central Mexico
%A Mar¨ªa-Raquel Huerta-Franco
%A Francisco-Miguel Vargas-Luna
%A Elba del Rosario Huerta-Franco
%A Aminta Jimenez-Velazquez
%A Marco Balleza
%A Isabel Delgadillo-Holford
%J Food and Nutrition Sciences
%P 1362-1370
%@ 2157-9458
%D 2015
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/fns.2015.615142
%X Objective: To investigate the age at menarche, pubarche and telarche in a representative sample of residents of an urban zone of Leon, Guanajuato, Central Mexico and to evaluate the secular change of the age at menarche between 1985 and 2000. Methods: Using status quo and retrospective methods, menarcheal, pubarcheal and telarcheal status of girls 8 - 17 years of age (n = 1093) were determined. Multiple regression analysis and logistic regression were used to determine factors that were related to or predictive of age at menarche. Results: Median ages for menarche, pubarche and telarche in our studied sample were: 11.9 ¡À 0.04; 11.13 ¡À 1.25 and 10.84 ¡À 1.34 years, respectively. A direct correlation was found between the age of menarche of adolescents and that of their mother (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.001) and sisters (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.001), in addition to the girls¡¯ waist circumference (<em>p</em> = 0.001), but an indirect correlation was found with the girls¡¯ hip circumference (<em>p</em> = 0.004). We demonstrated a clear secular tendency towards an earlier onset of menarche by comparing our results (11.9 ¡À 0.04) with data from 1985 (12.8 ¡À 1.3) for adolescents from the same city. Conclusion: We demonstrated a clear reduction in age at menarche of approximately 0.75 year/decade, higher than Tanner¡¯s finding in 1962, but similar than that of Malina <em>et al</em>. in 2004.
%K Age at Menarche
%K Adolescent Girls
%K Secular Tendency
%U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=61054