Abstract
BackgroundImprovements in socioeconomic conditions and population health have been linked to declining age at menarche. In China, secular trends in age at menarche following extensive economic reform during recent decades have not been thoroughly investigated. This study examined the overall trend in age at menarche and assessed differences in the rate of change of age at menarche over time, and between urban and rural populations and education levels in southeastern China.MethodsAge at menarche was retrospectively collected from 1,167,119 Han Chinese women born 1955–1985, who registered in the Perinatal Health Care Surveillance System in 19 cities and counties in two southeast provinces during 1993–2005. Multivariable linear regression was used to estimate trends in age at menarche overall and stratified by urban/rural residence and education level.ResultsAge at menarche declined by 0.33 [95% CI 0.33, 0.32] years/decade overall, with the fastest decline in women born in 1966–1975. For the earliest birth cohorts (1955–1965), age at menarche declined faster in urban versus rural regions, and for women with high school education or above versus primary school or less. In contrast, age at menarche declined slower among urban women born 1976–1985, and among those with higher education born 1966–1985.ConclusionsMean age at menarche declined for women born in 1955–1985 in southeast China. Further study is warranted to identify specific factors contributing to earlier age at menarche and associated health outcomes.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12905-014-0155-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Improvements in socioeconomic conditions and population health have been linked to declining age at menarche
This study examined secular trends in Age at menarche (AAM) for women born in 1955 to 1985 in southeast China using populationbased data from the Perinatal Health Care Surveillance System
The Perinatal Health Care Surveillance System (PHCSS) was established by the National Center of Maternal and Infant Health (NCMIH) at Peking University Health Science Center in 1993 as an essential component of the population-based China-U.S Collaborative Project for Neural Tube Defect Prevention, with population coverage of approximately 20 million from 27 cities and counties in China (6 in one northern province and 21 in two southeastern provinces)
Summary
Improvements in socioeconomic conditions and population health have been linked to declining age at menarche. Earlier AAM can negatively impact social and behavioral development [3,4], and may increase risk of long-term health outcomes including obesity, breast cancer, type 2 diabetes, and mortality [5,6,7,8]. Inequalities related to environment and lifestyle (urban vs rural), as well as socioeconomic status persist and likely contribute to AAM. ? 2014 Lyu et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated
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