DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2015.v03i02.040

Pages: 723-729

Menarche is a milestone in a woman‟s life denoting the start of reproductive capacity. The age at menarche has been getting earlier all over the world with varying rate. The abnormally in menarcheal time is associated with higher risk of poor health. The aim of this study was to find out the present age at menarche among Bengali Indian girls and to correlate with physical variables. This study was performed from April 2013 to December 2014 at five girls‟ high schools which approved the survey. The inclusion criterion was adolescent girls aged between 10 to 16 years who underwent menarche not more than 1 year prior to the survey. Status quo method was applied for estimation of age at menarche. Subjects were categorized into three groups according to their menarcheal age: early menarcheal age group (< mean menarcheal age - SD), mid or ideal menarcheal age group (between mean menarcheal age + SD) and late menarcheal age (> mean menarcheal age + SD). Every girl was subjected to anthropometric assessment including weight, height, mid upper arm circumference (MUAC), waist circumference and hip circumference. Body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage (BF%), waist-height ratio, waist-hip ratio and hip-height ratio were calculated. Median age at menarche was 12.2 years. 21% girls were early matured. Age at menarche was inversely correlated with weight, BMI, MUAC, waist circumference, hip circumference, body fat percentage (BF%), waist-height ratio, waist-hip ratio and hipheight ratio and positively correlated with height. Girls with high class BMI, waist circumference, waist-height ratio, hip circumference, hip-height ratio, body fat percentage and MUAC are prevalent to attained early menarche. It is important to control the occurrence of obesity, particularly central obesity through monitoring the change of waist circumference, hip circumference, body fat percentage, BMI and MUAC.