Age of Menarche and Its Related Factors in School Girls of Shahrekord

Abstract

Background: Considering different effective factors in age of menarche in different geographical areas and the necessity of determining a reliable and up-to - date reference in this field, the aim of this study was to determine the mean age of menarche in 11 - 18 years old school-girls of Shahrekord. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study among 778 school girls aged 11 - 18 years of Shahrekord which were selected by clustering method among 8163 students. Data was collected using a questionnaire about demographic characteristics, age of menarche, weight of birth, and socioeconomic and family educational status. Findings: From 778 students, menarche was occurred in 351 (45.12%). The mean age of menarche was 12.7 ± 15 years and lowest and highest ages of menarche were 8 years and 2 months and 15 years and 5 months, respectively. Age of precoious and delayed menarche was 10 years and 5 months (in 1.99%) and 15 years (in 4.5%), respectively. There was not any significant relationship between age of menarche and weight of birth but there was a significant relationship for mothers’ carrier, families’ socioeconomic condition, and dimension of the families. Conclusion: Likewise other parts of Iran, a reduction in the mean age of menarche was found in Shahrekord, too; which was due to improvement of socioeconomic, nutritional and health condition. However the findings of this study could be considered as a reference for future studies in this field and for assessment of menarche age variation trends in this region. Key words:Menarche age, School-girls, Shahrekord, Mean.