Age of menarche in the rural population of southern Haiti

This descriptive survey was designed to identify the age of menarche among rural women of Southern Haiti. Within this cross-sectional design, age of menarche was assessed by a recall method and confirmed by determining that age at which more than half the subjects were postmenarcheal. An interview technique was utilized to sample 97 subjects aged 10 to 19 during the summer of 1979. In addition to identifying the menarcheal age for this population, this study explored certain physiological and environmental variables, as they related to age of menarche. The limited size of the sample selected in a nonrandom fashion prohibited statistical demonstration of correlations. It was observed that the expected menarcheal age for this population was 14 years old. Among the environmental variables examined, there was a positive relationship between age of menarche and number of siblings, number of sisters, and number of cohabitants in the subjects' households. There was a negative association between the subjects' educational achievement and age of menarche. Whether or not the subjects' families owned land had no relationship with the event of menarche. No relationship between the geographic location of the subjects' homes and age of menarche could be established. Consideration of physiological variables revealed that subjects who experienced menarche prior to the expected age of 14 were larger in height and weight than those subjects who experienced menarche at 14 years old or older. There was no relationship between age of menarche and hemoglobin values obtained at the time of the interview. Efforts to elicit personal evaluations of health status from the subjects in order to relate this to menarcheal age were inconclusive. The researcher postulated that, although menarche is an event which is vulnerable to a variety of factors, nutrition exerts a significant effect on the temporal event of menarche and recommends further investigation aimed to scientifically verify this hypothesis.