Age at Menarche and Factors that Influence It: A Study among Female University Students in Tamale, Northern Ghana

Age at menarche reflects the health status of a population. This marks the beginning of sexual maturation and is affected by nutritional status and prevailing environmental conditions. This study measured the menarcheal age of female undergraduate students in northern Ghana and explored factors that could impact on the onset of menarche.GraphPad 5.01 was used to analyze data collected from 293 randomly selected female university students in a cross-sectional study using a semi-structured questionnaire. Association between different variables was tested using appropriate statistical tests. = 7.181, df = 2, p = 0.028).Mean menarcheal age of female university students in northern Ghana was 13.66 years. Females from urban areas and high income families had earlier menarche. Compared to the very first Ghanaian study reported in 1989, the menarcheal age decline was 0.11 year per decade