Abstract
Age at menarche was studied by the recollection method in two groups of Causasian Jewish high school girls, inhabitants of two towns in Israel, Safad and Elat. The two towns differ mainly in climatic conditions. The age at menarche was found to be significantly lower (P<0.02) in the hot town of Elat than in the temperate town of Safad: 13.30±1.21 and 13.58±0.9 years, respectively (mean ±SD). A significant association was found between the age at menarche and the town in which the girls lived. Accordingly, in the hot town of Elat, the percentage of girls who had their first menstrual cycle by the age of 12 years and earlier, was more than double that of the girls in Safad (17.9% and 7.1%, respectively). It is concluded that the environmental temperature, with or without any possible interaction of humidity, is probably responsible for the tendency for an earlier onset of menarche in girls living in the hot town of Elat.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Chiodi H (1950) Blood picture at high altitude. J Appl Physiol 2:431–436
Chiodi H, Pozzi C (1961) Hematic values in residents at altitudes between 1260 m and 4515 m above sea level. Acta Physiol Lat Am 11:51–59
Ellis RWB (1950) Age of puberty in tropics. Br Med J I:85–89
Eveleth PB (1966) Eruption of permanent dentition and menarche of American children living in tropics. Hum Biol 38:60–70
Hurtado A (1964) Animals in high altitude: Resident man In: Dill DB (ed) Handbook of physiology, section 4: Adaptation to the environment. American Physiological Society, Washington, pp 843–860
Israel S (1959) Onset of menstruation in Indian women. J Obstet Gynaecol Br Emp 66:311–316
Jacobovitz A, Zickel G, Fatal B (1960) A survey of hemoglobin levels amongst children and their mothers living in the Yoav Area (Shorek Valley). Harefuah 59:68–70 (in Hebrew)
Kapoor AK, Kapoor S (1986) The effect of high altitude on age at menarche and menopause. Int J Biometeorol 30:21–26
Kennedy WC (1933) Menarche and menstrual type: notes on 10000 case records. J Obstet Gynaecol Br Emp 40:792–804
Levine VE (1953) Studies in physioligical anthropology: III. Age of onset of menstruation of Alaska Eskimos. Am J Phys Anthropol 11:252
Malina R, Spirudo WW, Tate C, Baylor AM (1978) Age at menarche and selected menstrual characteristics in athletes at different competitive levels and in different sports. Med Sci Sports Exerc 10:218–222
Simmons K, Greulich WW (1943) Menarcheal age and the height, weight and skeletal age of girls 7 to 17 years. Am J Pediatr Hematol Oncol 22:518–548
Wilson DC, Sutherland I (1950) Age at menarche. Br Med J I:1267
Wilson DC, Sutherland I (1955) Female circumcision and the age at menarche. Br Med J I:1375
Zacharias L, Wurtman RJ (1969) Age at menarche, genetic and environmental influences. N Engl J Med 280:868–875
Zukowski W, Kmietowicz-Zukowski A, Gruska S (1964) Age at menarche in Polish girls. Hum Biol 36:233–234
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Saar, E., Shalev, C., Dalal, I. et al. Age at menarche: the influence of environmental conditions. Int J Biometeorol 32, 33–35 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01623990
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01623990