Dalsze przyspieszenie wieku menarche dziewcząt z Krakowa

Abstract

BackgroundPubertal growth acceleration may result from the overall improvement in the standard of living as well as from the chemical endocrine disruptors or distress. ObiectivesExamine whether girls from Krakow still demonstrated a dropping tendency in the age of the menarche onset. DesignA cross-sectional study of 1991 healthy schoolgirls from Krakow, aged 3–19, was conducted in 2010. MethodsThe age of the menarche onset was calculated to within a month in a given year. The average menarche age was estimated employing the retrospective method (RA), probit analysis (PA) and the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis (EA). The probit mediana was compared to the analogical age of the menarche onset in girls from Krakow examined in 1971, 1983 and 2000. ResultsEach of the above methods showed different results: the mean retrospective age (RA) equalled 12.62±1.13 years, the median probit age (PA) was 12.68 years, SE=0.07, 95% CI: 12.54–12.82, the median age based on the Kaplan-Meier analysis (EA) was 12.83 years, the 25th centile equalled 12 years, and the 75th centile was 13.5 years. Within the last decade the age of the menarche onset dropped by further 0.18 years. ConclusionsPubertal growth acceleration does not slow down in the population of girls from Krakow. The last decade (2000–2010) witnessed a further drop in the age of the menarche onset by 0.18 years (2 months). During the whole period under analysis, i.e. 40 years, it dropped by 0.44 years (more than 5 months), that is 0.11 years per decade on average.