Age at menarche in schoolgirls with and without excess weight

AbstractObjectiveTo evaluate the age at menarche of girls, with or without weight excess, attending private and public schools in a city in Southeastern Brazil.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study comparing the age at menarche of 750 girls from private schools with 921 students from public schools, aged between 7 and 18 years. The menarche was reported by the status quo method and age at menarche was estimated by logarithmic transformation. The girls were grouped according to body mass index (BMI) cut-off points: (thin + normal) and (overweight + obesity). In order to ensure that they belonged to different strata, 328 parents of these schools answered a questionnaire to rate the student's socioeconomic level.ResultsMenarche was reported by 883 girls. Although they belonged to different classes (p<0.001), there was no difference in the nutritional diagnosis (p=0.104) between them. There was also no difference in age at menarche between the girls studying in private (12.1 years, 95% CI: 12.0-12.2) and public schools (12.2 years, 95% CI:12.1-12.3; p=0.383). When evaluated by nutritional status, there was difference only in the age at menarche between girls from private schools with excess weight and without excess weight (11.6 and 12.3 years; p