Comparison of Menarcheal Age, Socio-Demographics and Anthropometrics of Hausa and Igbo Schoolgirls from Enugu and Kaduna States of Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
The onset of menarche signals the start of women‘s reproductive life and is determined by genetics, race, environmental, nutritional habits, socioeconomic status, and exercise.
The present study is primarily aimed at determining the mean menarcheal age of adolescent girls from Hausa and Igbo ethnic groups living in rural and urban regions.
The study also compared the mean anthropometric dimensions of menstruating and non-menstruating girls. The study also examined the prevalence of premenstrual syndromes among these designated ethnic groups. A total of 800 secondary school girls participated in the study.
Four hundred are from Hausa and four hundred from Igbo ethnic groups. One hundred and fifty out of the four hundred from each ethnic group reside in the rural region while another one hundred and fifty from each ethnic group reside in the urban region.
The remaining two hundred subjects will constitute the non- menstruating group with hundred from each ethnic group of which fifty are residents of rural region and the remaining fifty from urban region.
This cross-sectional study was conducted on girls aged 11-18 years old. Relevant data were collected through a self- administered questionnaire after which certain anthropometric measurements including weight, height, mid upper arm, waist, hip, chest, neck, thigh circumferences, waist-hip, waist-chest and waist-height ratios.
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
The onset of puberty is marked by the development of breast tissue, and menarche is a late event in puberty. The age that menarche occurs varies and is dependent on the interaction between genetic and environmental factors.
In the 19th century factors that were thought to exert an influence on the physical maturation of girls were climate (particularly the mean annual temperature), ethnic origin, social status, urban or rural residence, physical activity, education, sexual stimulation, housing, inheritance, and health status (Heidi, 1986).
Studies carried out in the 20th century documented other factors associated with the age at menarche, e.g. season and month at birth, physique, birth order, family income, occupation and education of parents and family size (Heidi, 1986).
It is considered that during the 20th century the dramatic improvement of socioeconomic conditions and general health of the populations in the industrialized countries resulted in an earlier onset of puberty in children.
The most reliable marker of the positive secular changes in pubertal development was the fall of the age at menarche.
It has been estimated that during most of the 20th century age at menarche has been fallen by about 3 months per decade (Tanner, 1989), although there are reports from industrialized countries that it has been leveling off or that it shows an upward trend (Lindgren et al., 1991; Dann and Roberts, 1993).
Whatever the factors that influence pubertal maturation and age at menarche are, they interrelate and thus the onset of menarche cannot be attributed to a single factor.
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