A Groping Approach to Delayed Menarche in Female Athletes

The hypothesis in regard to delayed menarche in female athletes has been constructed in U.S.A, however, has been not verified yet. Therefore, it would be considered that the verification of delayed menarche can be derived from examination based on comparison between female athletes and non-athletes in regard to the difference between the age at menarche and MPV (Maximum Peak Velocity : Age at adolescent peak derived from wavelet interpolation method). In this study, the age at MPV as the index of physical maturity rate was identified by the wavelet interpolation method (WIM), so the delayed menarche in female athletes and control groups is verified based on examination the difference between the age at menarche and MPV. Health examination records of 110 female athletes of first grade of women university in Tokai area which participated in the national level competition were researched from the first grade of elementary school until the third grade of high school(from 1984 to 1995) as athletes groups. The longitudinal data of height and weight were obtained from the health examination records. The age at menarche in these data were researched by questionaires. The control group as non-athletes was researched as similar to the athletes group, and 68 female non-athletes were picked up. The difference between the age at MPV of height and at menarche in athletes group was 1.54 years(SD=1.01) and was 0.96 years(SD=1.18) in control group. There was a significant difference between the two groups(P