Cited by 506Cancer Risks and FactorsStatistical Methods in EpidemiologyMenopause: Health Impacts and Treatments

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Recall of Early Menstrual History and Menarcheal Body Size: After 30 Years, How Well Do Women Remember?

Must, A.·2002·American Journal of Epidemiology

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Abstract

The validity of recall of early menstrual characteristics is of interest because of their putative role in the etiology of breast cancer and other diseases. A retrospective follow-up of the Newton Girls Study (1965-1975) provided an opportunity to assess the accuracy and precision of recall of several early menstrual characteristics. In 1998-1999, 57 percent of the original 793 Newton Girls Study participants completed a mailed questionnaire to assess the accuracy of recall for age and body size at menarche, usual cycle length during the first 2 years, and age at regularity. Recalled and original age at menarche were highly correlated (r = 0.79, p < 0.001). The body mass index percentile at menarche was well correlated with recalled body size at menarche (r = 0.61, p < 0.001), but with some evidence of systematic bias. Overall, a woman's recall of menarcheal age and body size was better than recall of cycle length and occurrence of regularity. The failure to identify certain menstrual characteristics as exposures for subsequent disease may reflect limitations in the accuracy and precision of the recalled measures.

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Method
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Gan, J., Chen, Z., Liu, S., Wang, F., Wang, X., Hu, W., Du, X., Zhu, H., Ma, L., Shi, Z., et al. (2021) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-562858/v1
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Iyamu, J., Hodgson, J. C., & Sharpe, R. (2021) · Chronic Illness · doi:10.1177/17423953211043113
Edad de menarquia y su asociación con el Índice de Masa Corporal en estudiantes universitarias, Lima, 2018
Flores, A. A. U., & Heredia, M. D. R. (2020) · Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC) · doi:10.19083/tesis/654711
THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS ON AGE AT MENARCHE IN NORTH BAČKA REGION (THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA)
Pavlica, T., Puškaš, V., & Rakić, R. (2022) · Anthropological Researches and Studies · doi:10.26758/12.1.18
Association between Maternal Age of Menarche and Height Standard Deviation Scores of Children with Short Stature
杨, 如. (2022) · Advances in Clinical Medicine · doi:10.12677/acm.2022.12111464
Risk factors in cardiovascular diseases and prediction of sudden cardiac death
Welten, S. J. G. C. (2024) · doi:10.5463/thesis.413
Exploring the Effects of Age at Menarche and Pregnancy on Myopia
Ong, N. J., Mackey, D. A., Hunter, M. L., & Lee, S. S. (2024) · Ophthalmic Epidemiology · doi:10.1080/09286586.2024.2379973
“79 Unfortunately, the data collected from the Busselton study were retrospective, which might result in recall bias and may account for the higher age at menarche in the Busselton study compared to the Raine Study.”
Ramadan during pregnancy and offspring age at menarche in Indonesia: a quasi-experimental studyPreprint
Tran, V. M., van Ewijk, R. J. G., & Pradella, F. (2024) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-5324852/v1
Relação entre a idade da menarca e o ganho de peso gestacional: um estudo transversal no Brasil
Cassiano, D. R., Bubach, S., dos Santos, A. S., & Poton, W. L. (2024) · Revista Brasileira de Saúde Materno Infantil · doi:10.1590/1806-9304202400000099
Relation between age of menarche and gestational weight gain: a cross-sectional study in Brazil
Cassiano, D. R., Bubach, S., dos Santos, A. S., & Poton, W. L. (2024) · Revista Brasileira de Saúde Materno Infantil · doi:10.1590/1806-9304202400000099-en
Ramadan During Pregnancy and Offspring Age at Menarche in Indonesia: A Quasi-Experimental Study
Tran, V. M., van Ewijk, R. J. G., & Pradella, F. (2025) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu17091406
“The second subsamples were limited to only younger women, who were thus more likely to correctly recall their AAM at the time of the interview [61], i.e., max 30 (IFLS) and 20 (DHS) years old.”
Genome-wide analysis highlights causal epigenetic link to age at menarchePreprint
Ye, Z., Xu, R., Malone, G. L., Dugué, P., Nguyen, T. L., Giles, G. G., Southey, M. C., Milne, R. L., & Li, S. (2025) · medRxiv · doi:10.1101/2025.08.10.25333251
Pubertal Assessment and Growth in Patients With Hemoglobinopathies: A Longitudinal Multicenter Study on the Association With Ferritin Levels
Dülberg, J., Sanchez, C., Burckhardt, M., Friedrich, L. A., Salow, V., Radauer‐Plank, A., Borgmann‐Staudt, A., Cario, H., Diepold, M., Drexler, B., et al. (2025) · European Journal Of Haematology · doi:10.1111/ejh.70075
“Both menarche and ejacularche—referring to the first conscious ejaculation, as opposed to spermaturia, which was not evaluated in this study—are milestones that are typically well remembered, even retrospectively [38, 39].”
Additional file 5 of Pubertal timing and breast cancer risk in the Sister Study cohort
Goldberg, M., D’Aloisio, A. A., O’Brien, K. M., Zhao, S., & Sandler, D. P. (2020) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.13152319
Additional file 6 of Pubertal timing and breast cancer risk in the Sister Study cohort
Goldberg, M., D’Aloisio, A. A., O’Brien, K. M., Zhao, S., & Sandler, D. P. (2020) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.13152322
Additional file 2 of Pubertal timing and breast cancer risk in the Sister Study cohort
Goldberg, M., D’Aloisio, A. A., O’Brien, K. M., Zhao, S., & Sandler, D. P. (2020) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.13152310
Additional file 4 of Pubertal timing and breast cancer risk in the Sister Study cohort
Goldberg, M., D’Aloisio, A. A., O’Brien, K. M., Zhao, S., & Sandler, D. P. (2020) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.13152316
Additional file 1 of Associations of reproductive breast cancer risk factors with breast tissue composition
Yaghjyan, L., Austin-Datta, R. J., Oh, H., Heng, Y. J., Vellal, A. D., Sirinukunwattana, K., Baker, G. M., Collins, L. C., Murthy, D. J., ROSNER, B. A., et al. (2021) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.14913461
Additional file 3 of Pubertal timing and breast cancer risk in the Sister Study cohort
Goldberg, M., D’Aloisio, A. A., O’Brien, K. M., Zhao, S., & Sandler, D. P. (2020) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.13152313
Additional file 1 of Pubertal timing and breast cancer risk in the Sister Study cohort
Goldberg, M., D’Aloisio, A. A., O’Brien, K. M., Zhao, S., & Sandler, D. P. (2020) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.13152307
Additional file 1 of Associations of reproductive factors with incidence of myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke in postmenopausal women: a cohort study
Jeong, S.-M., Yoo, J. E., Jeon, K. H., Han, K., Lee, H., Lee, D.-Y., & Shin, D. W. (2023) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.22603588
Additional file 4 of Associations of reproductive factors with incidence of myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke in postmenopausal women: a cohort study
Jeong, S.-M., Yoo, J. E., Jeon, K. H., Han, K., Lee, H., Lee, D.-Y., & Shin, D. W. (2023) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.22603597
Additional file 5 of Associations of reproductive factors with incidence of myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke in postmenopausal women: a cohort study
Jeong, S.-M., Yoo, J. E., Jeon, K. H., Han, K., Lee, H., Lee, D.-Y., & Shin, D. W. (2023) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.22603600
Additional file 3 of Associations of reproductive factors with incidence of myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke in postmenopausal women: a cohort study
Jeong, S.-M., Yoo, J. E., Jeon, K. H., Han, K., Lee, H., Lee, D.-Y., & Shin, D. W. (2023) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.22603594
Pubertal timing and incident uterine cancer in the Sister Study cohort
Harrell, A. N., O’Brien, K. M., Shaw, N. D., Sandler, D. P., & Goldberg, M. (2025) · International Journal of Cancer · doi:10.1002/ijc.70310
“However, the onset of regular menstrual cycles is difficult to accurately recall, 41 and cycle length may be a relatively poor marker of ovulation among adolescents.”
Adiposity and reproductive characteristics across the lifespan: a multi-ethnic population-based study in Northwest China
Zhang, B., Mi, B., Li, C., Xu, K., Cai, J., Kang, Y., Wang, D., Pei, L., Shi, G., Liu, Y., et al. (2026) · Reproductive Health · doi:10.1186/s12978-025-02259-9 · Cited by 1
“Nevertheless, the use of self-reported reproductive characteristics was common in epidemiological studies, as they were salient life milestones for women, and prior evidence suggested that age at menarche was generally recalled with reasonable accuracy [41].”
Childhood and Adolescent Factors and Thyroid Cancer Incidence in Adult Women in the Sister Study Cohort
Tran, T.-V.-T., O’Brien, K. M., Troisi, R. J., Sandler, D. P., & Kitahara, C. M. (2026) · Cancer Causes & Control · doi:10.1007/s10552-025-02085-1
Genome-wide analysis highlights epigenetic link to age at menarche
Ye, Z., Xu, R., Malone, G. L., Dugué, P., Nguyen, T. L., Giles, G. G., Southey, M. C., Milne, R. L., & Li, S. (2026) · Human Reproduction · doi:10.1093/humrep/deag019
Association of menarche age with macrosomia and modified effect from dietary pattern: findings from the Chinese pregnant women
Jin, Y., Zhang, L., Ma, Q., Zhang, X., Liu, A., Li, X., Chen, S., Zhang, S., Zhang, S., Lin, J., et al. (2026) · Frontiers in Nutrition · doi:10.3389/fnut.2026.1777526
“Nevertheless, previous studies have consistently demonstrated a strong correlation between self-reported AAM in adulthood and actual AAM (65).”
Age at Menarche Among Mizo Women in Aizawl, Mizoram: A Secular Trend Across Five Birth-Decade Cohorts (1960-2007)
Ralte, L., Sailo, L., Hnamte, L., Lalrinpuia, B., Biakhlupuii, C., & Ralte, V. (2026) · Cureus · doi:10.7759/cureus.106523
Apolipoprotein E Polymorphism and Reproductive Patterns Among Postreproductive Women
Bartecka, P., Galbarczyk, A., Klimek, M., Nenko, I., & Grazyna Jasienska, A. (2026) · American Journal of Human Biology · doi:10.1002/ajhb.70260
“A study on middle-aged women demonstrated a strong positive correlation ( r = 0.79, p < 0.001) between the recalled age at menarche and the age recorded in original childhood medical records (Must et al. 2002).”
Influential
Reproductive Factors, Lifestyle Behaviours and Cognitive Decline in Chinese Postmenopausal Women: A Cohort Study
Tang, X., Yang, H., Tang, S., Gao, J., & Xiao, Q. (2026) · BJOG An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology · doi:10.1111/1471-0528.70270

Authors: Must, A.
Affiliations: Tufts University (US)
Corresponding author: Must, A.
ORCID: Must, A.
Venue: American Journal of Epidemiology
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published: 2002-04-01
Volume: 155
Issue: 7
Pages: 672-679
ISSN: 0002-9262 (ISSN-L)
DOI: 10.1093/aje/155.7.672
OpenAlex: W2034939744
Cited by: 506
References: 46
Citations by year: 2026: 15 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 22 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 23 · 2014: 22 · 2013: 29 · 2012: 19
FWCI: 6.80
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: American Journal of Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (P30DK046200, DK46200.)
Topics: Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Risks and Factors
Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods in Epidemiology
Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Menopause: Health Impacts and Treatments
Keywords: menarche, recall accuracy, age at menarche, menstrual cycle length, breast cancer etiology
MeSH terms: Adult, Age Factors, Body Height, Body Image, Body Weight, Female, Humans, Menarche, Menstruation, Mental Recall, Retrospective Studies, Bias, Body Mass Index, Linear Models, Statistics, Nonparametric

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Recall of Early Menstrual History and Menarcheal Body Size: After 30 Years, How Well Do Women Remember?

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