Impact of Socioeconomic Background on the Age at Menarche among Bengali Adolescent

Menarche is the symbol of a shift from a girl to woman. Age at menarche is important as it influence health in adulthood. This study was aimed to investigate the impact of socio-economic background on age at menarche among school going adolescents.

This was a cross sectional questionnaire based study conducted among school girls having age limit 10-14 years. Only unmarried adolescent females were included in the study however, females with gynaecological, psychological or other medical problems were excluded from the study. A self-administered questionnaire having questions related to their age, age when menarche appear, parental education, household income, family member etc. were applied to collect data. Subjects were divided into two group- experimental (those attained menarche < 11.5 years) and reference (11.5 to 14.0 years). Quantitative data were presented as percentage and/or mean + standard deviation. We evaluated correlation between age at menarche and socioeconomic background. Logistic regression analysis was done to assess impact of socioeconomic background on age at menarche. The significance level of the tests was considered at a significance level of 0.05.

About one-fourth of study population acquired menarche at age below 12 years and remaining three-fourth acquired menarche at 12-14 years. Significant negative correlation was noted between age at menarche and parental education standard as well as family income. Girls coming from small family attained menarche earlier than those coming from large family. Girls without any siblings attended early menarche than those with siblings. Results from logistic regression analysis suggests that socio-economic background significantly affects the age at onset of menarche. Family size and family income were significantly correlated with parental education. Thus parental education standard indirectly affects age at menarche by modulating lifestyle.

Results of this study suggest a significant impact of socio-economic background of family on age at menarche. Socio-economic background may influence age at initiation of first menstruation by modulating lifestyle.