Original research paper age at menarche and affecting bio-social factors among the girls of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

The age at which first menstrual bleeding occurs in female, i.e menarche is viewed as an excellent physiological marker of adolescent maturation. The aim of this study is to determine the mean age at menarche among adolescent girls and to assess the influence of some Bio-social parameters affecting it.This study was conducted among 150 adolescent girls in the age group of 10 to 19 years, randomly selected from urban & rural government schools of Lucknow. 75 girls from each school were selected from November 2009 to March 2010. This was a cross sectional descriptive study. Girls were studied about their socioeconomic status, weight, height, place of residence. Out of 150 cases studied 108 cases were having menstruation, most frequent age of menarche being 13 years when 32 cases (29.63%) had its onset. The lowest age was 8 years and highest was 15 year. Mean age at menarche was found to be 12.43 ± 1.49. There seems to be definite association of various factors which modify the age at menarche like socio-economic status, body mass index, place of residence.

Age of menarche in girls of Uttarakhand.

Menarche is a physiological and developmental phenomenon significant in the life of a female. It occurs between the ages of 10 to 16 years. Study suggests that menarche tends to appear earlier in life as the social, nutritional and economic condition of society improves. There is paucity of information about menarchial age in hilly regions of Uttarakhand. Therefore, this research was undertaken to determine age of menarche and its variation with geographical, seasonal and nutritional status. This study was carried out through a questionnaire in 450 girl students between age 17-26 years at Uttarakhand Forest Hospital Trust, Medical College, Haldwani, India. The mean age of onset of menarche was 13.6 (+ 1.1) years. The monthly occurrence of menarche had peaks in May-June. The mean menarchial age of girls belonging to plain area was 13.18+ 1.31 years, which showed significantly earlier onset as compared to girls from hilly area (14.21 + 1.46 years). In hilly areas girls having vegetarian diet had significantly higher age of menarche (14.60 + 1.33 years), compared to girls having non-vegetarian diet (14.09 + 1.56 years). Therefore altitude, season and nutritional status have bearing on the mean menarchial age in girls of Uttarakhand.