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SECULAR TREND IN AGE AT MENARCHE IN CHINA: A CASE STUDY OF TWO RURAL COUNTIES IN ANHUI PROVINCE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 1999

MAUREEN J. GRAHAM ,
ULLA LARSEN  and
XIPING XU
MAUREEN J. GRAHAM
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
ULLA LARSEN
Affiliation:
Department of Population & International Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
XIPING XU
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
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Abstract

There is increasing evidence that age at menarche has decreased in Europe and the United States during the last century and in Japan over the last several decades. Data from a community-based survey conducted in two rural counties of Anhui Province in China indicate a similar, downward secular trend in age at menarche for Chinese women. The present study shows the mean age at menarche decreased by 2·8 years, from 16·5 to 13·7, over an approximate 40-year time interval. This rapid decrease in age at menarche may partly be due to better nutrition and living standards reflected by the improved socioeconomic standards experienced in China over the past few decades. To test this hypothesis, a number of determinants of age at menarche were assessed; year of birth, literacy status, county of residence, amount of physical labour, general health status, pesticide exposure before age at menarche, and drinking water source were all found to be associated with age at menarche.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , April 1999 , pp. 257 - 267
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press

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