Age of menarche in a longitudinal US cohort
Open accessAbstract
Study objective Menarche is a critical milestone in a woman's life, and historically has been determined using several approaches. The goals of this study were to: (1) determine age at menarche from multiple reports of parents and adolescent participants in a prospective study; (2) examine factors affecting age at menarche; and (3) determine correlates of menarche and pubertal tempo.Design Longitudinal observational study.Setting Three sites of the Breast Cancer and the Environment Research Program.Participants Girls enrolled at 6-8 years of age.Interventions and main outcome measures Parental and participant reported age of menarche, and tempo of puberty.Results There were 946 girls who were assigned an age of menarche. The correlation between parent and participant reports was high (Spearman R = 0.799, P < .001), and the difference was insignificant. Median age at menarche overall was 12.25 years. Compared with black participants, Hispanic girls were more likely to have menarche earlier, whereas white and Asian girls were more likely to have menarche later. Age of menarche was highly correlated with age of breast development (Spearman R = 0.547; P < .001), and inversely with body mass index (Spearman R = -0.403; P < .001). Tempo (interval of age of breast development to menarche) was slower in those with earlier breast development.Conclusion Parental and adolescent reports of menarche are highly correlated. Earlier breast maturation was associated with slower tempo through puberty. Body mass index had a greater effect on age at menarche than did race and ethnicity.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
A longitudinal study found that the median age at menarche for American girls was 12.25 years, with lower menarcheal ages in black and Hispanic girls compared with white and Asian girls.
“A longitudinal study found that the median age at menarche for American girls was 12.25 years, with lower menarcheal ages in black and Hispanic girls compared with white and Asian girls [130].”
From Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: Pathophysiology, Presentation, and Treatment With Emphasis on Adolescent Girls (2019) · cites this paper as [130]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Variations in pattern of pubertal changes in girls
Marshall, W. A., & Tanner, J. M. (1969) · Archives of Disease in Childhood · doi:10.1136/adc.44.235.291 · Cited by 5,963 · see citing works
The Diagnosis of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome during Adolescence
Witchel, S. F., Oberfield, S., Rosenfield, R. L., Codner, E., Bonny, A., Ibáñez, L., Pena, A., Horikawa, R., Gomez-Lobo, V., Joel, D., et al. (2015) · Hormone Research in Paediatrics · doi:10.1159/000375530 · Cited by 3,113 · see citing works
Herman-Giddens, M. E., Slora, E. J., Wasserman, R. C., Bourdony, C. J., Bhapkar, M. V., Koch, G. G., & Hasemeier, C. M. (1997) · PEDIATRICS · doi:10.1542/peds.99.4.505 · Cited by 1,709 · see citing works
Reproductive Factors and Breast Cancer
Kelsey, J. L., Gammon, M. D., & John, E. M. (1993) · Epidemiologic Reviews · doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.epirev.a036115 · Cited by 1,452 · see citing works
Examination of US puberty-timing data from 1940 to 1994 for secular trends: panel findings
Euling, S. Y., Herman-Giddens, M. E., Lee, P. A., Selevan, S. G., Juul, A., SØrensen, T. I. A., Dunkel, L., Himes, J. H., Teilmann, G., & Swan, S. H. (2008) · PEDIATRICS · doi:10.1542/peds.2007-1813d · Cited by 662 · see citing works
Recent decline in age at breast development: The Copenhagen Puberty Study
Aksglaede, L., Sørensen, K., Petersen, J. H., Skakkebæk, N. E., & Juul, A. (2009) · Pediatrics · doi:10.1542/peds.2008-2491 · Cited by 626 · see citing works
Must, A. (2002) · American Journal of Epidemiology · doi:10.1093/aje/155.7.672 · Cited by 506 · see citing works
Dorn, L. D., Dahl, R. E., Woodward, H. R., & Biro, F. (2006) · Applied Developmental Science · doi:10.1207/s1532480xads1001_3 · Cited by 477 · see citing works
Self-citationOnset of breast development in a longitudinal cohort
Biro, F. M., Greenspan, L. C., Galvez, M. P., Pinney, S. M., Teitelbaum, S., Windham, G. C., Deardorff, J., Herrick, R. L., Succop, P. A., Hiatt, R. A., et al. (2013) · PEDIATRICS · doi:10.1542/peds.2012-3773 · Cited by 362 · see citing works
Pubertal timing and the development of psychopathology in adolescence and beyond
Graber, J. A. (2013) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2013.04.003 · Cited by 350 · see citing works
Pubertal assessment method and baseline characteristics in a mixed longitudinal study of girls
Biro, F. M., Galvez, M. P., Greenspan, L. C., Succop, P. A., Vangeepuram, N., Pinney, S. M., Teitelbaum, S., Windham, G. C., Kushi, L. H., & Wolff, M. S. (2010) · Pediatrics · doi:10.1542/peds.2009-3079 · Cited by 348 · see citing works
Self-citationWolff, M. S., Teitelbaum, S. L., Pinney, S. M., Windham, G. C., Liao, L., Biro, F. M., Kushi, L. H., Erdmann, C., Hiatt, R. A., Rybak, M. E., et al. (2010) · Environmental Health Perspectives · doi:10.1289/ehp.0901690 · Cited by 301 · see citing works
Self-citationPubertal correlates in black and white girls
Biro, F. M., Huang, B., Crawford, P. B., Lucky, A. W., Striegel-Moore, R., Barton, B. A., & Daniels, S. (2006) · The Journal of Pediatrics · doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2005.10.020 · Cited by 210 · see citing works
Self-citationPubertal development in Swiss girls.
Largo, R. H., & Prader, A. (1983) · PubMed · Cited by 194 · see citing works
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN PHYSICAL CHANGES ASSOCIATED WITH ADOLESCENCE IN GIRLS
Reynolds, E. L. (1948) · Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine · doi:10.1001/archpedi.1948.02030020341006 · Cited by 194 · see citing works
The duration of puberty in girls is related to the timing of its onset
Martí-Henneberg, C., & Vizmanos-Lamotte, B. (1997) · The Journal of Pediatrics · doi:10.1016/s0022-3476(97)70073-8 · Cited by 178 · see citing works
Trends in Ages at Key Reproductive Transitions in the United States, 1951–2010
Finer, L. B., & Philbin, J. M. (2014) · Women s Health Issues · doi:10.1016/j.whi.2014.02.002 · Cited by 149 · see citing works
Accuracy of short-term recall of age at menarche
Koo, M. M., & Rohan, T. E. (1997) · Annals of Human Biology · doi:10.1080/03014469700004782 · Cited by 146 · see citing works
Lee, Y., & Styne, D. M. (2013) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2013.03.014 · Cited by 141 · see citing works
Hormone Changes in Peripubertal Girls
Biro, F. M., Pinney, S. M., Huang, B., Baker, E. R., Chandler, D. W., & Dorn, L. D. (2014) · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · doi:10.1210/jc.2013-4528 · Cited by 109 · see citing works
Self-citationAge at Menarche: 50-Year Socioeconomic Trends Among US-Born Black and White Women
Krieger, N., Kiang, M. V., Кошелева, А., Waterman, P. D., Chen, J. T., & Beckfield, J. (2014) · American Journal of Public Health · doi:10.2105/ajph.2014.301936 · Cited by 90 · see citing works
Dorn, L. D., Sontag-Padilla, L. M., Pabst, S. R., Tissot, A. M., & Susman, E. J. (2012) · Developmental Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0029424 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Maturational tempo differences in relation to the timing of the onset of puberty in girls
Pantsiotou, S., Papadimitriou, A., Douros, K., Priftis, K. Ν., Nicolaidou, P., & Fretzayas, A. (2008) · Acta Paediatrica · doi:10.1111/j.1651-2227.2007.00598.x · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Wolff, M. S., Pajak, A., Pinney, S. M., Windham, G. C., Galvez, M. P., Rybak, M. E., Silva, M. J., Ye, X., Calafat, A. M., Kushi, L. H., et al. (2016) · Reproductive Toxicology · doi:10.1016/j.reprotox.2016.11.009 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Self-citationIntratumoral neovascularization and growth pattern in early gastric carcinoma
Tomoda, M., Maehara, Y., Kakeji, Y., Ohno, S., Ichiyoshi, Y., & Sugimachi, K. (1999) · Cancer · doi:10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(19990601)85:11 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Progression Through Puberty in Girls Enrolled in a Contemporary British Cohort
Christensen, K. L. Y., Maisonet, M., Rubin, C., Holmes, A. K., Flanders, W. D., Heron, J., Ness, A., Drews‐Botsch, C., Dominguez, C. E., McGeehin, M. A., et al. (2010) · Journal of Adolescent Health · doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.02.005 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Age at menarche based on recall information
Hediger, M. L., & Stine, R. A. (1987) · Annals of Human Biology · doi:10.1080/03014468700006862 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Hägg, U., KARLBERG, J. P. E., & TARANGER, J. (1991) · PubMed · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Witchel, S. F., Oberfield, S. E., & Peña, A. S. (2019) · Journal of the Endocrine Society · doi:10.1210/js.2019-00078 · Cited by 653 · see citing works
Adolescent brain development and contextual influences: a decade in review
Galván, A. (2021) · Journal of Research on Adolescence · doi:10.1111/jora.12687 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and the menstrual cycle: Theory and evidence
Eng, A. G., Nirjar, U., Elkins, A. R., Sizemore, Y. J., Monticello, K. N., Petersen, M. K., Miller, S. A., Barone, J., Eisenlohr-Moul, T. A., & Martel, M. M. (2024) · Hormones and Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2023.105466 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
- Authors
- Biro, F. M., Pajak, A., Wolff, M. S., Pinney, S. M., Windham, G. C., Galvez, M. P., Greenspan, L. C., Kushi, L. H., & Teitelbaum, S. L.
- Affiliations
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (US)
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (US)
- University of Cincinnati (US)
- California Department of Public Health (US)
- Kaiser Permanente (US)
- Corresponding author
- Biro, Frank M.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-08
- Volume
- 31
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 339-345
- ISSN
- 0932-8610 (ISSN-L)
- 1083-3188
- PMC
- PMC6121217
- OpenAlex
- W2803388432
- Cited by
- 200
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 22 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 34 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 34 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 3
- FWCI
- 18.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5ul1rr026314-03, UL1TR001433, UL1TR001425)
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (R21ES017315, U01ES019435, U01ES019453, U01ES019454)
- National Center for Research Resources (UL1RR024131, UL1RR029887, UL1-RR026314)
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Hypothalamic control of reproductive hormones
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Risks and Factors
- Keywords
- age at menarche, pubertal tempo, breast development, body mass index, race and ethnicity, girls
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Child, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Menarche, Parents, Prospective Studies, Puberty, Sexual Maturation, Age Distribution
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
