• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.64 no.1
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• pp.12-20
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• 2021

The mean age at menarche (AAM) of Korean females has been rapidly decreasing over the last 50 years; currently, the prevalence of early menarche (<12 years) is 22.3%. Female adolescents who experience early menarche are known to be at greater risk of psychosocial and behavioral problems along with several physical health problems such as menstrual problems. They also tend to achieve a shorter final height and develop obesity. Population-based Korean studies have shown a strong association between early menarche and the risk of obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, diabetes, breast cancer, and cardiovascular disease in adulthood. Although the exact mechanism of how early menarche causes cardiometabolic derangement in later adulthood is unknown, childhood obesity and insulin resistance might be major contributors. Recent studies demonstrated that an excessive consumption of fructose might underlie the development of obesity and insulin resistance along with an earlier AAM. A positive association was observed between sugar-sweetened beverages (a major source of fructose) intake and obesity, metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, and cardiometabolic risk in Korean females. In pediatrics, establishing risk factors is important in preventing disease in later life. In this regard, early menarche is a simple and good marker for the management of cardiometabolic diseases in adulthood. Decreasing one's fructose intake might prevent early menarche as well as the development of obesity, insulin resistance, and cardiometabolic diseases.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.63-72
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• 1971

The conclusions were obtained from the detailed survey of 1,285 students experiencing menstruation, who were chosen among 1,717 students in middle & high school girls in Seoul. The survey was conducted during July 20-July 24, 1971. 1. Age of Menarche An average age of menarche was 13.3$\pm$1.07. The earliest age of menarche was 9 and the latest age 18. Ages of menarche were between 12 and 14 in 84.3 percent of the students surveyed. a. By present age distribution, the aged students were lower, than younger students in the average age of menarche. b. By father′s educational levels, among the students whose fathers were graduated from high schools, college & ever the earliest average age of menarche was found with 13.2, and among the students whose fathers were graduated from primary schools that wag latest with 13.6. c. By father′s occupations, among the students whose fathom engaged in "workers not classifiable"the earliest age of menarche was found with 12.5$\pm$0.27, among the students whose fathers were in "service business"the second was 12.9$\pm$1.07, and among the students whose fathers were in "miners, quarrymen and related workers"that was latest with 13.8$\pm$1.14. d. By economic status, among the students of "wealthy"families the age of menarche was 13.1$\pm$0.25, the among the students of "ordinary"families the lags of menarche 13.3$\pm$1.06. and the among the students of "poor" families that was 13.8$\pm$0.31. e. By home discipline, among the students being treated "rigid" the age of menarche was 13.5$\pm$1.13, among the students being treated "moderate"the age of menarche was 13.3$\pm$0.22, and those being treated "indifferent" that was 13.0$\pm$0.26. f. By students physical condition, among the students of "good" condition the average of menarche was 13.3$\pm$0.16, and among the students "poor" that was 13.5$\pm$0.31. 2. Menstruation a. For the six months after the average of menarche 39.0 percent of the students had normal menstruations, and 61.3 percent of them had abnormal ones. Of the students with abnormal menstruation 21.7 percent had abnormal menstruation from time to time, 25.4 percent had no menstruation for one month to three months, 7.2 percent had menstruation for four to six months and 6.7 per cent had no menstruation for more than sin months. Most students became to have normal menstruations a few months later the age of menarche. b. At the time interviewed, the percentile of cycle of menstruation as following: 23 days types: 46.8 percent 30 days types: 40.6 percent others : 12.6 percent The average cycle of menstruation was every 28.9 days. c. The average duration of menstruation is 4.69 days. d. The subjective symptoms during menstruation period: Out of the total 89.7 per cent had some pains, while 10.3 percent had no symptom. Among the symptoms, abdominal pain occupied 29.9 percent, neurotic symptoms 19.0 percent and lumbago 15.1 percent. e. By attitude or Action at first physical change, "Treated it by own experience" : 30.0 percent "Don′t know what to do because of ignorance" : 20.1 percent "Asked others about it" : 43.0 percent

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.64-72
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• 2009

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to identify Korean primary school students' knowledge of menstruation, their emotional reaction to menarche, the attitude toward menstruation and coping behaviors. Method: A cross-sectional survey design was employed in this study. The subjects were 200 female students who were recruited from 5th and 6th grade in five primary schools in J city, Korea. Data was collected by a structured questionnaire. Result: About forty-four percent of the subjects had experiences with menarche. The mean age of menarche was 12.4. The mean score of the students' knowledge of menstruation was 2.26 on a seven point scale. The mean scores of the emotional reaction to menarche and the attitude toward menstruation were 3.20 and 3.74 on a five point scale, respectively. Knowledge of menstruation was significantly related with a positive emotional reaction to menarche and a positive attitude toward menstruation. Also, there were significant differences in the knowledge of menstruation, the emotional reaction to menarche and attitude of menstruation among female students with positive coping behaviors and those without positive coping behaviors. Conclusion: Beyond the simple transference of knowledge, girls need to also be given mental and emotional support in order to minimize emotional and socio-psychological problems caused by early menarche.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.10-17
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• 1978

There are numerous reports on menarche age in korea and other countries but only few reports are available on menopausal age. This is a result of surveys on 509 women for menarche and 341 women for manopause among the rural areas of Choongnam and Kyungbuk province. For those born between 1894 and 1929. aver age ageof menarche was 16.63 years. The earliest was 13 years and latest was 22 years old. Majority (78.8%) had their menarohe at the age of between 15 and 18. It was noted that there was gradual advancement of menarche age among those born in later years than earlier. More menarche started in the months of October and April and fewest was in the month of June. Spring was the time when the largest number of women had menarche and this was followed by Autumn. Winter, and Summer. The most common menstrual cycle was 39 days type which is followed by 28 days and 26 days. The average monpausal age among rural korean women was 46.97 years. The number of years between menarche and menopause appears to be dependent upon individual physical and mental condition. socioeconomical circumstances. and also hereditary as well as ethnic differences. 87.1 % of rural korean women had menstrual ages of between 20 to 35 years according to this statistics and the average was 29.67 years.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.59-66
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• 2023

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of body weight status and sleep duration on the discrete-time hazard of menarche in Korean schoolgirls using multiple-point prospective panel data. Methods: The study included 914 girls in the 2010 Korean Children and Youth Panel Study who were in the elementary first-grader panel from 2010 until 2016. We used a Gompertz regression model to estimate the effects of weight status based on age-specific and sex-specific body mass index (BMI) percentile and sleep duration on an early schoolchild's conditional probability of menarche during a given time interval using general health condition and annual household income as covariates. Results: Gompertz regression of time to menarche data collected from the Korean Children and Youth Panel Study 2010 suggested that being overweight or sleeping less than the recommended duration was related to an increased hazard of menarche compared to being average weight and sleeping 9 hours to 11 hours, by 1.63 times and 1.38 times, respectively, while other covariates were fixed. In contrast, being underweight was associated with a 66% lower discrete-time hazard of menarche. Conclusions: Weight status based on BMI percentiles and sleep duration in the early school years affect the hazard of menarche.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.521-529
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• 2000

Objectives : To assess height, weight and body mass index from childhood to adolescence according to the age at menarche and hence to study the influence of childhood growth on the menarche age. Methods : $\lceil$The Kangwha Study$\rfloor$was a community-based prospective cohort study which included the entire population of 219 female first graders in Kangwha county in 1986. Among the 219 girls, 119 girls who had received complete follow up checks during the study period$(1986\sim1997)$, were included in this study, except one for whom menarche age information was unavailable. The remaining 118 girls were divided into three groups according to the timing of menarche : early(<25 percentile), intermediate and late($\geq75$ percentile) maturers. Results : The average age at menarche was 12.7 years . early 11.3 years, intermediate 12.6 years and late 13.7 years. The early maturers were taller and heavier between $6\sim8$ years. But, the mean weight and body mass index at the menarche age did not differ statistically among the three groups. The weight and body mass index of the early maturers were consistently higher than those of the late maturers over the entire period of the study. Conclusions : Critical body weight and body mass index must be attained for menstruation to be attained and the age at menarche is largely determined by the childhood growth. In addition, it seems that childhood growth and age at menarche are associated with adolescent weight and body mass index.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.415-423
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• 1995

In order to investigate the relationship between the menarche and the bone maturity of growing girls, the author interviewed about the date of menarche of 70 girls and assessed their bone maturity by hand-wrist radiographs. The results and conclusion were as iollows ; 1. The mean menarcheal age was $12.04{\pm}0.82$ year. 2. There was significant correlation between the time interval after menarche and the ossification stage. 3. The skeletal maturation level at menarche was stage SMI 7 and SMI 8. 4. There was statistically different among the time intervals after menarche according to the ossification stage. 5. The epiphyseal union of radius began about 2 years after menarche. According to this study, the probability of clinical use can be accepted in some range. In another words, skeletal age can be predicted by just interviewing the date and time interval of menarche without hand-wrist radiograph, also, with this information, the level of maxillofacial growth can be assessed.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.222-243
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• 1995

The purpose of this study was to develop concrete and in-depth knowledge about menarche and to raise the need of menstrual education. The data were collected from purposively sample 34 women from twenties to forties from April 27 to October 10, 1994. Semi-structured intensive interviews were done and these qualitative data were analysed with "Ethnograph" computer program. The results of the study were as follows : 1. The experience of menarche could be classified into two main groups, which were positive and negative response to menarche. The negative experiences were to be shameful, tearful, scared of the phenomena and thought as a kind of punishment for guilt or confused menarche with other symptoms of diseases. On the contrary, the positive experiences were to be proud of physical maturity and to think that is was wonderful, miraculous and to perceive it as a warm experience. 2. The experience of menarche was influenced by various factors. They were the knowledge about menstruation, the quality and amount of informations, the time of menarche, the environmental factors, the response of significant others toward menarche. The experience of menarche could be positive or negative according to these factors. 3. The previous information sources about menstruation could be significant others, school education and mass-media. The significant others were mothers, sisters, friends and the person in charge of school sex education such as school nurses, home economics, military drill and athletics of teachers. And mass-media included sex education booklets, nursery tales, TV programs, and publicity activities of sanitary napkin companies. 4. The opinions of the subjects about the proper time of menarcheal education could be grossly classified into two groups. The first was active approach toward children when they were in elementary school. The second was passive approach which postponed the time until the child ask about it, because it would be awkward for them to discuss about the topic. 5. The participants thought that the ideal methods of menarche education would be systematic school education programs, open discussion with daughters, audio-visual teachings, or practical education in everyday life. 6. The contents of the menarche education based on the participants' opinions, would be positive details about meanings and functions of menstruation. And it would be desirable if the attitudes of the person in charge of education could be positive, open-hearted, and favorable toward menstruation.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.319-327
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• 2016

The objective of this study is to identify the secular trend in age at menarche and to investigate the factors influence the early menarche(<12 years old) among Korean middle and high school girls. We analyzed data from the Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey(KYRBWS) 2006-2014. This study was a descriptive study of 216,917 Korean middle and high school girls born between 1988 and 2002. Linear trends test performed to assess the trend age at menarche and percentage of early menarche. Multiple logistic regression analysis was to assess the risk factors influence the early menarche. Mean age at menarche decreased from $12.61{\pm}1.32$ years for middle and high school girls born 1988 to $11.88{\pm}0.75$ years for those born 2002(p for trends<.001). Percentage of early menarche increased from 19.7% to 25.2% between 1988 and 2002(p for trends<.001). Living in city, higher stress level, short sleep duration, and higher body mass index were associated with an early menarche among middle and high school girls(all p<.001). We found that age at menarche is still falling in the Korean adolescents, and it need intervention strategies to control the early menarche.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.28 no.3 s.68
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• pp.409-417
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• 1998

The 123 left hand-wrist radiographs and menarcheal ages attained by direct questioning to patients or her mothers are used, in order to exploit the relationship between the bone maturity and the menarcheal age of girls in adolescence. The results were as follows, 1. The mean age at menarche was $12.31{\pm}0.99$. 2. The onset of menarche occurred at SMI 7 and SMI 8 ($73.33\%$). The onset of menarche was correlated with skeletal age rather than chronological age. 3. There was statistically significant difference among the time passed from menarche according to skeletal maturity level. 4. The distal epiphyseal union of radius began at about 20 months after menarche. 5. In comparision of the time intervals from menarche to radial epiphyseal fusion among early, average, and late menarcheal age groups, late group had lesser time interval than other two groups.