Community Medicine Abstracts - College of Medicine and Health ...

Project No. 149 (C-1998/9)Factors Influencing Menarche in a Multi Ethnic CommunityStudent Authors: Aisha Abdulla Mohammed Al-Abdulli, Aisha Ali Mohammed Al-Khuzaimi, Faiza Saif Nasser HarharaFaculty Supervisors: Dr. A. Carter, Dr. P. BadrinathAbstract:Objectives To determine the age at menarche in different nationalities, and to assesssome of the factors influencing it in Al Ain school girls.Methods Design was a community-based cross-sectional survey coveringgovernmental and private secondary schools in Al Ain city. Subjects includedsecondary school girls from different nationalities studying in Al Ain city schools. Thestudy period covered 23 January to 23 February 1999.Results The mean age at menarche in study subjects was 12.81 +/-1.46 years. Themean age at menarche in UAE nationals was 13.17+/-1.73 years, whereas it was12.61+/-1.33 years in non-nationals. There was no statistically significant associationbetween age at menarche and fat intake, however, girls with high fat intake tended tohave earlier menarche. The association between physical activity and age atmenarche was not statistically significant, though girls with higher levels of physicalactivity tended to have delayed onset of menarche. Concerning consanguinity, it wasnot associated with age at menarche, however higher consanguinity rate was observedamong UAE nationals (p=0.02). The socio-economic status, stress, and anaemia didnot show any statistically significant associations with age at menarche. Interestingly,however, analysis showed that the prevalence of anaemia in UAE nationals was highcompared to the non-nationals (p value