Back to the problem of correlation between somatic growth rate and age at menarche (based on longitudinal study carried through 1960-69)

Abstract

Introduction. The goal of study is analysis of correlations of age at menarche and age at peak height velocity (PHV).

Material and methods. The study is based on material of longitudinal study of Moscow schoolgirls aged 8-17 years, examined through 1960-1969. The number of participants is 141 girls, observed once a year at one and the same calendar time (spring). The program includes 3 somatic traits – height, weight, chest girth, – calculated BMI and age at menarche, fixed up to month.

Results. Age at peak height velocity (PHV) strictly precedes age at menarche. The faster is somatic growth, the lower is the age at menarche. The individual dynamics of weight increase has no such strict correspondence with the age at menarche, while dynamics of BMI increase has fluctuating random character. Correlations of peak height velocity (PHV) age with age at menarche have significant value 0,73, while correlations of PHV level are significantly less (-0,37). The level of correlations of the age at menarche with the absolute values of height and weight in one-year age groups through the interval 8-17 years is almost the same, the dynamics of correlations coincides up to the 13 years of age, further on smoothly decrease for weight, being still significant, but falls sharply for height, being insignificant at 15-17 years.

Conclusion. High correlations of age at menarche and peak height velocity (PHV) age coincide with the fact that both indicators have unified genetic regulation, according to the world literary data. The coincidence of morphological and genetic conformities allows to postulate high informativeness of morphological level of variability. Also we conclude that peak height velocity (PHV) is a strict distinct trigger of age at menarche and the important marker of biological age.

Acknowledgements. The study was conducted under the state assignment of Lomonosov Moscow State University.

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