Background

Throughout the 20 century, in developed countries there has been a secular trend toward earlier menarche. Over the past 2 decades, however, there has been an apparent stabilization in the average age of menarche age in most Western countries.

Objectives

The objective of this study was to analyze the mean age of menarche in a cohort of Italian girls, to analyze the mean age of breast button appearance (B2), and to correlate the B2 developmental stage and age at menarche with the most important clinical and auxological parameters.

Materials and Methods

We retrospectively evaluated the data of 1458 Italian girls born between 1995 and 2003. We collected the main auxological and clinical parameters, including age at B2, age at menarche, height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) at B2 and menarche and, when possible, adult/near adult height.

Results

The mean age of B2 was 10.16 ± 1.00 years, significantly earlier than previously reported for Italian girls (P < .05); the mean age of menarche was 12.07 ± 0.99 years, also significantly earlier than previously reported (P < .0001). Age at B2 and menarche inversely correlated with BMI standard deviation score (SDS) (P < .0001). The mean adult/near adult height of the girls in the study cohort was not statistically different from previously reported data for Italian women.

Conclusions

Our results suggest a new trend for an earlier appearance of thelarche and menarche in Italian girls. Our data confirm a significant relationship between BMI and age of B2 and menarche. The girls’ final height seems to be in line with average height for the Italian female population.

中文翻译：

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对最近一批意大利女孩青春期时间的分析：与以前的研究相比，早期发病的证据

背景

纵观整个 20 世纪，在发达国家，月经初潮提前的趋势一直存在。然而，在过去的 20 年中，大多数西方国家的平均初潮年龄明显趋于稳定。

目标

本研究的目的是分析一组意大利女孩的平均初潮年龄，分析乳房按钮出现的平均年龄 (B2)，并将 B2 发育阶段和初潮年龄与最重要的临床和生长参数。

材料和方法

我们回顾性评估了 1995 年至 2003 年间出生的 1458 名意大利女孩的数据。我们收集了主要的生长学和临床参数，包括 B2 年龄、初潮年龄、B2 和初潮时的身高、体重和体重指数 (BMI)，以及在可能的情况下，成人/接近成人身高。

结果

B2 的平均年龄为 10.16 ± 1.00 岁，显着早于之前报道的意大利女孩 ( P < .05)；初潮的平均年龄为 12.07 ± 0.99 岁，也显着早于先前报道的 ( P < .0001)。B2 年龄和初潮与 BMI 标准差评分 (SDS) 呈负相关 ( P < .0001)。研究队列中女孩的平均成年/接近成年身高与先前报道的意大利女性数据没有统计学差异。

结论

我们的研究结果表明，意大利女孩的初潮和初潮较早出现的新趋势。我们的数据证实了 BMI 与 B2 年龄和初潮之间的显着关系。女孩的最终身高似乎与意大利女性人口的平均身高一致。