Age of Onset of Puberty in Apparently Healthy School Girls from Northern India.

Khadgawat, Rajesh; Marwaha, RK; Mehan, Neena; Surana, Vineet; Dabas, Aashima; Sreenivas, V; Gaine, M Ashraf; Gupta, Nandita

Objective:

To determine the age of pubertal onset and menarche in school-going girls, and to assess the impact of obesity on pubertal timing.

Design:

Cross-sectional

Setting:

Seven schools across Delhi, India.

Participants:

2010 school girls, aged 6-17 years

Methods:

Anthropometric measurement and pubertal staging was performed for all subjects. Menarche was recorded by ‘status quo’ method. Body mass index was used to define overweight/obesity. Serum gonadotropins and serum estradiol were measured in every sixth participant. Main outcome

measure:

Age at thelarche and menarche—analyzed for entire cohort and stratified based on body mass index.

Results:

Median (95% CI) ages of thelarche, pubarche and menarche were 10.8 (10.7-10.9) y, 11.0. y (10.8-11.2) y and 12.4 y (12.2-12.5) y. Overweight/obese girls showed six months earlier onset of thelarche and menarche than those with normal BMI (P<0.05). Serum gonadotropins did not vary significantly in overweight/obese subjects.

Conclusion:

The study provides the normative data for pubertal growth in Indian girls. Pubertal onset occurs earlier in overweight and obese girls.

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