Age at menarche in relation to body composition and dietary patterns in physically active and non active girls ranging in age from 8to16 yrs

Abstract

The present cross sectional study Age at menarche in relation to body composition and dutary patterns in physically active and non active girls ranging in age from 8-16 years has been carried out on girls ranging in age of 8-16 years. A total number of 1920 girls were studied during November 2009 to September 2010. Data was collected from rural and urban parts of three districts of Punjab i.e. Patiala, Bhatinda and Gurdaspur. 680 girls were studied from each city out of which 320 were from rural areas and 320 from urban areas. Which were again classified in to physically active and non active girls. The study was conducted to evaluate the age at menarche of physically active and non active girls, to study the relationship between body composition and age at menarche, to study the difference between menarcheal age of girls in urban and rural areas and to evaluate the relationship between dietary patterns and age at menarche. Subjects were divided into 8 age groups on the basis of their decimal age i.e. 8.5-9.49, 9.5-10.49_____15.5-16.49. This division was done in all the sub groups. newlineTotal subjects of each area were divided in to urban and rural which were again divided in to physically active urban, physically non active urban, physically active rural and physically non active rural. There were total of 160 subjects in each sub group, which were divided in to 8 age groups. Girls who were actively participating in sports and were practicing for at least 2 hours a day were taken in physically active group while girls having a sedentary lifestyle or involved in household chores only were taken as physically non active girls. The general information i.e. name, class, father s name, family income, family size and date of birth were recorded for each subject. Age at menarche was accessed using retrospective method through the use of questionnaire. Age at menarche of mothers was also taken. The data on dietary intake of subjects were gathered by 3 days 24 hours recall method.