Post-Menarcheal Growth Patterns in a Contemporary Cohort of Latino Girls

Abstract

Introduction: Menarche is the last stage of pubertal development, which coincides with the completion of longitudinal growth. As a consequence of the lack of national and up-to-date data related to post-menarcheal (PM) growth, the aim of our work was to evaluate PM growth in a group of contemporary healthy Chilean girls followed, prospectively, until 4 years PM. Methods: This study was nested within the GOCS cohort, in a prospective fashion. The girls were followed yearly after menarche for at least for 4 years. We modeled each girl’s growth using a SuperImposition by Translation and Rotation (SITAR) model. Results: A total of 534 girls were evaluated prospectively; 399 girls had height measured 2 years after menarche, 421 after 3 years, and 364 of 534 had height measured at 4 years PM. Expected height gained PM in the complete study group was 6.6 ± 2.5 cm. We observed that the largest gain in height occurred after the first year PM (3.8 ± 1.5 cm). According to the age of menarche, the group with earlier menarche (p Conclusion: In a national and updated dataset, we observed that girls grew until 4 years PM an average of 6.6 ± 2.5 cm, with greatest gain occurring in the first year PM (3.8 ± 1.5 cm). Age at menarche was associated with menarche growth patterns.