Age at menarche in relation to nutritional status and critical life events among rural and urban secondary school girls in post-conflict Northern Uganda

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dc.contributor.authorOdongkara Mpora, Beatrice
dc.contributor.authorPiloya, Thereza
dc.contributor.authorAwor, Sylvia
dc.contributor.authorNgwiri, Thomas
dc.contributor.authorLaigong, Paul
dc.contributor.authorMworozi, Edison A.
dc.contributor.authorHochberg, Ze’ev
dc.date.accessioned2023-02-12T19:44:33Z
dc.date.available2023-02-12T19:44:33Z
dc.date.issued2014
dc.description.abstractMenarche age is an important indicator of reproductive health of a woman or a community. In industrial societies, age at menarche has been declining over the last 150 years with a secular trend, and similar trends have been reported in some developing countries. Menarche age is affected by genetic and environmental cues, including nutrition. The study was designed to determine the age at menarche and its relation to childhood critical life events and nutritional status in post-conflict northern Uganda. Methods: This was a comparative cross-sectional study of rural and urban secondary school girls in northern Uganda. Structured questionnaires were administered to 274 secondary school girls, aged 12 – 18 years to determine the age at menarche in relation to home location, nutritional status, body composition and critical life events. Results: The mean age at menarche was 13.6 ± 1.3 for rural and 13.3 ± 1.4 years for urban dwelling girls (t = −1.996, p = 0.047). Among the body composition measures, hip circumference was negatively correlated with the age at menarche (r = −0.109, p = 0.036), whereas height, BMI and waist circumference did not correlate with menarche. Paternal (but not maternal) education was associated with earlier menarche (F = 2.959, p = 0.033). Childhood critical life events were not associated with age at menarche. Conclusions: Age at menarche differed among urban and rural dwelling school girls and dependent on current nutritional status, as manifested by the hip circumference. It was not associated with extreme stressful childhood critical life events.en_US
dc.identifier.citationOdongkara Mpora, B., Piloya, T., Awor, S., Ngwiri, T., Laigong, P., Mworozi, E. A., & Hochberg, Z. E. (2014). Age at menarche in relation to nutritional status and critical life events among rural and urban secondary school girls in post-conflict Northern Uganda. BMC women's health, 14(1), 1-7. doi:10.1186/1472-6874-14-66en_US
dc.identifier.other10.1186/1472-6874-14-66
dc.identifier.urihttps://nru.uncst.go.ug/handle/123456789/7763
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherBMC women's healthen_US
dc.subjectMenarche ageen_US
dc.subjectNutritional statusen_US
dc.subjectBody compositionen_US
dc.subjectStressen_US
dc.titleAge at menarche in relation to nutritional status and critical life events among rural and urban secondary school girls in post-conflict Northern Ugandaen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
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