Ann Pediatr Endocrinol Metab.  2013 Jun;18(2):60-64. 10.6065/apem.2013.18.2.60.

Age at menarche in the Korean female: secular trends and relationship to adulthood body mass index

• Ahn JH
• Lim SW
• Song BS
• Seo J
• Lee JA
• Kim DH
• Lim JS

• KMID: 2047462
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.6065/apem.2013.18.2.60

Abstract

PURPOSE
The objective of this study is to estimate the trend in age at menarche in the Korean female and evaluate the relationship between age at menarche and adult body mass index (BMI), which is a indicator of later-life health.
METHODS
We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of a nationally representative sample (self-reported age at menarche and measured height and weight) of 11,065 females aged 15 and older. Data were obtained from the Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES IV, 2007-2009).
RESULTS
We found a statistically significant decline in age at menarche in successive birth groups, indicating a 0.726 year decrease per decade. The age at menarche in 1990-1994 year birth group was 12.60 years, which showed a significant decreased from 3.11 years in the 1980-1984 birth group. We also found a significant negative association between age at menarche and current BMI. A one-year decrease in age at menarche was associated with mean BMI increase of 0.109 kg/m2 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.069 to 0.150) after adjustment for age. In multivariate logistic regression, the odds ratios of obesity in females with early menarche (<12 years) was 1.845 fold (95% CI, 1.441 to 2.361).
CONCLUSION
We found that age at menarche is still falling in the Korean female. We also found that early menarche is a risk factor for obesity in adults.

Keyword

Body mass index; Epidemiology; Menarche; Obesity; Korean

MeSH Terms

Adult
Aged
Body Mass Index
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Humans
Korea
Logistic Models
Menarche
Nutrition Surveys
Obesity
Odds Ratio
Parturition
Risk Factors

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 The secular trend of mean age at menarche and body mass index for femalefemales born between 1904 and 1995.: (A) Ageage at menarche, (B) body mass index. *There is significant differences among each groups based on Tukey multiple comparison.

• 

  Fig. 2 Body mass index depending on age at menarche. (A) total subjects (n=9,105), (B) females less than 30 years (n=1,654). The number of female subjects with age at menarche over 16 years was only 61 (3.7%) in reporting females under 30 years.

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