Age of onset of puberty in apparently healthy school girls from northern India

• Published in: Indian pediatrics Vol. 53; no. 5; pp. 383 - 387
• Main Authors: Khadgawat, Rajesh, Marwaha, R.K., Mehan, Neena, Surana, Vineet, Dabas, Aashima, Sreenivas, V., Gaine, M. Ashraf, Gupta, Nandita
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Delhi Springer India 01-05-2016
• Subjects: Adolescent; Child; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; India - epidemiology; Maternal and Child Health; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Menarche - physiology; Overweight - epidemiology; Pediatric Obesity - epidemiology; Pediatric Surgery; Pediatrics; Research Paper; Students - statistics & numerical data; Menarche; Obesity; Pubarche; Adolescent; Thelarche
• ISSN: 0019-6061; 0974-7559
• DOI: 10.1007/s13312-016-0857-5

Objective
To determine the age of pubertal onset and menarche in school-going girls, and to assess the impact of obesity on pubertal timing.
Design
Cross-sectional
Setting
Seven schools across Delhi, India.
Participants
2010 school girls, aged 6-17 years
Methods
Anthropometric measurement and pubertal staging was performed for all subjects. Menarche was recorded by ‘status quo’ method. Body mass index was used to define overweight/obesity. Serum gonadotropins and serum estradiol were measured in every sixth participant.
Main outcome measure
Age at thelarche and menarche—analyzed for entire cohort and stratified based on body mass index.
Results
Median (95% CI) ages of thelarche, pubarche and menarche were 10.8 (10.7-10.9) y, 11.0. y (10.8-11.2) y and 12.4 y (12.2-12.5) y. Overweight/obese girls showed six months earlier onset of thelarche and menarche than those with normal BMI (
P
<0.05). Serum gonadotropins did not vary significantly in overweight/obese subjects.
Conclusion
The study provides the normative data for pubertal growth in Indian girls. Pubertal onset occurs earlier in overweight and obese girls.