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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
medicine
Age at menarche in relation to nutritional status and critical life events among rural and urban secondary school girls in post-conflict Northern Uganda
BMC Women's Health, Volume 14, No. 1, Article 66, Year 2014
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Description
Background: Menarche age is an important indicator of reproductive health of a woman or a community. In industrial societies, age at menarche has been declining over the last 150 years with a secular trend, and similar trends have been reported in some developing countries. Menarche age is affected by genetic and environmental cues, including nutrition. The study was designed to determine the age at menarche and its relation to childhood critical life events and nutritional status in post-conflict northern Uganda.Methods: This was a comparative cross-sectional study of rural and urban secondary school girls in northern Uganda. Structured questionnaires were administered to 274 secondary school girls, aged 12 - 18 years to determine the age at menarche in relation to home location, nutritional status, body composition and critical life events.Results: The mean age at menarche was 13.6 ± 1.3 for rural and 13.3 ± 1.4 years for urban dwelling girls (t = -1.996, p = 0.047). Among the body composition measures, hip circumference was negatively correlated with the age at menarche (r = -0.109, p = 0.036), whereas height, BMI and waist circumference did not correlate with menarche. Paternal (but not maternal) education was associated with earlier menarche (F = 2.959, p = 0.033). Childhood critical life events were not associated with age at menarche.Conclusions: Age at menarche differed among urban and rural dwelling school girls and dependent on current nutritional status, as manifested by the hip circumference. It was not associated with extreme stressful childhood critical life events. © 2014 Odongkara Mpora et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
Authors & Co-Authors
Odongkara, Beatrice Mpora
Uganda, Gulu
Gulu University
Piloya, Theresa Were
Uganda, Kampala
School of Medicine, Makerere University College of Health Sciences
Awor, Silvia
Uganda, Gulu
Gulu University
Ngwiri, Thomas
Kenya, Nairobi
Gertrude's Children's Hospital
Laigong, Paul
Kenya, Nairobi
Gertrude's Children's Hospital
Mworozi, Edison Arwanire
Uganda, Kampala
Mulago National Referral Hospital
Hochberg, Ze'Ev
Israel, Haifa
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
Statistics
Citations: 42
Authors: 7
Affiliations: 5
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1186/1472-6874-14-66
e-ISSN:
14726874
Research Areas
Food Security
Genetics And Genomics
Maternal And Child Health
Sexual And Reproductive Health
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Approach
Quantitative
Study Locations
Uganda
Participants Gender
Female