Age at Menarche (MA) in chronic diseases: celiac disease (CD), insulin-dependent diabetes (T1DM) and growth hormone deficiency (GHD).

Background: MA is an important indicator of physiological development in women and MA delayed was been associated with chronic illness. Objective: to investigate predictors and factors at diagnosis that influence MA in chronic diseases. Methods: A cohort of 391 Italian girls aged 11-24 years with chronic illness was assessed. 245 girls (107 with T1DM, 75 with CD, 12 with both T1DM and CD, 51 with GDH) were included. We investigate their anthropometric data, metabolic status, diagnosis parameters, presence of irregular menses and we compared their MA with healthy italian girls MA. Results: mean MA for all girls included is 12.7 ± 1.2 years. MA in different groups was: 12.52 years for girls with T1DM, 12.27 years for girls with CD, 13.52 years in girls with both T1DM and CD, 13.38 years in girls with GHD. In T1DM group a strong positive correlation is also found between menarcheal glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and mean HbA1c (p