Edad de menarca. Caracteres sexuales secundarios. Interrelacion. Tendencia secular / [Age of menarche. Secondary sex characteristics. Interrelation. Secular trend]

ABSTRACT

Our purpose was to determine the mean age of menarche in young females of our population. To relate menarche with maturation stages of secondary sex character. To observe if the secular trend persist after the first observation. Consistently two temporal observations spaciated for 10 years were performed. Two hundred and eighty three healthy women who belonged to a higher middle-level and attending a high school from Cordoba National University were studied. Such women were in an age range between 11.0 to 18.0 years. Anthropometric and biological maturation examination were undertaken (Tanner). The mean age of onset of secondary sex characters was determined in a longitudinal follow-up group (54 girls). The mean age of menarche in the overall sample was determined by the retrospective method and in the subsample of 54 girls longitudinally followed in the 70-80 decade was determined by the prospective method in which the menarche was correlated with stages of mamary development (B) an pubic hair (PH). The mean age of menarche in 146 young females with a follow-up from 1.981 through 1.990 was determined. In the overall sample the mean of age of menarche was of 12.59 years +/- 1.17; in the subsample (54 girls) of 12.75 years +/- 1.03. In this subsample 70.37