Table 1.

Early life factors and their associations with age at menarche.

Study	Study population	Country of study	n	Early life factor(s) examined	Association(s) with age at menarche	Ref.
Adadevoh et al. (1989)	Cross-sectional study of school girls	Ghana	2087	Father’s occupation and place of residence	Higher father’s occupational class and living in an urban area → earlier menarche	[41]
Attallah et al. (1983)	Cross-sectional study of school girls	Sudan	1372	Family income group	Higher family income → earlier menarche	[45]
Bielicki et al. (1986)	Cross-sectional study of girls from elementary schools	Poland	20373	Parental education and father’s occupation	Higher levels of parental education and higher paternal occupational class → earlier menarche	[48]
Billewicz et al. (1981)	Girls taking part in a longitudinal study of growth and development in Newcastle upon Tyne	UK	699	Birth order, number of siblings, birthweight, weight and height at 5 years of age, age at peak height velocity, arm circumference, subscapular skinfold, triceps skinfold and father’s occupation	Larger family → later menarche Father in nonmanual occupation and higher weight and height at the age of 5 years → earlier menarche Birthweight → no association	[46]
Bogaert (2005)	A national probability sample	USA	1921	Presence of parents at the age of 14 years	Father absent → earlier menarche Mother absent and stepfather present → no association	[55]
Bogaert (2008)	National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL, 2000) respondents	UK	5913	Presence of parents up to age 16 years	Father absent → earlier menarche Mother absent → no association	[56]
Brown et al. (2004)	Children in the community study	USA	401	Childhood abuse and neglect	Two or more episodes of sexual abuse → earlier menarche	[52]
Chavarro et al. (2004)	Women entering an undergraduate program at the National University of Colombia	Colombia	3206	Place of birth, childhood migration, parental education, socioeconomic background, family size and physical activity in year before menarche	Greater family size and increased hours of physical activity → later menarche Urban birth place and higher socioeconomic position → earlier menarche	[42]
Cooper et al. (1996)	Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development	UK	1471	Birthweight, height and weight at the age of 7 years	Higher birthweight and lower weight at 7 years of age → later menarche	[30]
Ersoy et al. (2004)	Cross-sectional study of school girls	Turkey	1000	Paternal education and occupation	No association	[139]
Farid-Coupal et al. (1981)	National Human Growth, Nutrition and Family Survey	Venezuela	955	Socioeconomic position	Higher socioeconomic position → earlier menarche	[140]
Jorm et al. (2004)	PATH Through Life Project	Australia	3702	Childhood adversity scale (which consisted of measures of lack of parental affection, nervous or emotional trouble or depression of parents, parental alcohol abuse and ten types of parental mistreatment)	Higher levels of childhood adversity → earlier menarche	[53]
Junqueira et al. (2003)	Pro-Saude Study	Brazil	2217	Father’s education level	Lower paternal education levels → greater declines in average age at menarche over time	[141]
Khan et al. (1996)	Women who participated in a nutrition intervention study as children	Guatemala	497	Height-for-age at the age of 3 years, dietary supplementation from birth to the age of 7 years, average energy intake from birth to the age of 3 years, skeletal maturation, percentage of time ill with diarrhea or respiratory illness up to the age of 3 years	Higher degree of stunting and higher percentage of time ill → later menarche Increased caloric intake and height-for-age → earlier menarche	[142]
Łaska-Mierzejewska et al. (1982)	Group of school girls participating in a cross-sectional survey	Poland	5546	Father’s education level and family size	Higher paternal education level → earlier menarche Larger family size → later menarche	[51]
Lumey et al. (1997)	Women born in a specific hospital between 1944 and 1946	The Netherlands	700	Exposure to Dutch famine by trimester	Trimester of exposure to famine → no association	[143]
Marrodan et al. (1999)	Cross-sectional study of school girls	Spain	811	Area of residence (urban vs rural)	No association	[49]
Mendleet al. (2006)	Children of twins study	Australia	1284	Parental divorce and presence of parents	Presence of stepfather or stepuncle → earlier menarche Parental divorce → no association	[55]
Moisan et al. (1990)	Nested case-control study of school girls	Canada	666	Diet, weight, height, abdominal skinfold, suprailiac skinfold, physical activity and energy expenditure	Greater height, weight and physical activity levels → earlier menarche Weak positive association between energy intake, energy expenditure and age at menarche	[144]
Oduntan et al. (1976)	Cross-sectional study of school girls	Nigeria	2357	Parental education, father’s occupation, area of residence, number of siblings, birth order and patterns of marriage in family	Urban residence, higher parental education levels and higher occupational class of father → earlier menarche Number of siblings, birth order and patterns of marriage → No association	[40]
Pasquet et al. (1999)	Participants in various cross-sectional surveys	Cameroon	911	Urban or rural location	Urban location → earlier menarche	[43]
Pesonen et al. (2008)	Helsinki Birth Cohort	Finland	511	Evacuation without parents during the war	Experiencing evacuation → earlier menarche	[59]
Prebeg et al. (2000)	Women participating in one of three cross-sectional surveys undertaken in 1981, 1985 and 1996	Croatia	3607	Family socionecomic position and number of siblings 1996 survey only: relocation, death of family member or damage of home or property during Balkan war	Number of siblings → no association In 1996 survey: family member killed; or home or property: - Damaged → later menarche - Relocation → no association	[50]
Rao et al. (1998)	Longitudinal study of school girls	India	533	Socioeconomic position, peak height velocity and peak weight velocity	Higher socioeconomic position → earlier menarche Time from peak height and weight velocity to menarche did not differ by socioeconomic position	[27]
Romans et al. (2003)	The Otago Women’s Health Child Abuse Survey	New Zealand	488	Family socioeconomic position, presence of parents, family conflict, quality of relationship with parents, physical and sexual abuse	Univariate analyses: lower socioeconomic position; father absent; family conflict; poor relationships with parents; abuse → earlier menarche In fully adjusted analyses: longer duration of abuse → earlier menarche	[57]
Schooling et al. (2008)	Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study	China	7273	Socioeconomic position (father’s occupation and women’s education as a marker of family wealth in childhood)	Lower socioeconomic position → earlier menarche	[38]
Simondon et al. (1997)	Cross-sectional study of girls born between 1978 and 1984	Senegal	1181	Seasonal work migration	No association	[145]
Sloboda et al. (2007)	Western Australia Pregnancy (Raine) Cohort Study	Australia	776	Expected birthweight ratio and BMI at the age of 8 years	Expected birthweight ratio lower than median → earlier menarche Higher BMI at age 8 years → earlier menarche	[34]
Tahirović (1998)	Participants in a cross-sectional study who were deported from Srebreica to refugee camps in Tuzla or who lived in unoccupied areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnia	5820	Relocation to a refugee camp	Relocation to refugee camp → later menarche	[65]
Ulijaszek et al. (1991)	Girls aged 9-17 years who were of European, Afro-Caribbean or Indo-Pakistani descent and living in designated neighbourhoods in London	UK	2177	Father’s occupational class, birth order and family size	Larger family size → later menarche (Indo-Pakistani and European girls) Higher social class size → earlier menarche (in Afro-Caribbean and European girls)	[47]
van Noord et al. (1991)	DOM project, participants in a breast cancer screening program	The Netherlands	16,583	Exposure to World War II and the Dutch famine	Exposure to war → delayed menarche (effect removed with the cessation of war)	[64]
Veronesi and Gueresi (1994)	Participants in a cross-sectional study	Italy	2930	Location of residence, father’s occupation, physical activity in years before menarche and family structure	Urban residence and lower occupational class of father → earlier menarche Higher levels of physical activity and first born → later menarche	[44]
Wronka et al. (2005)	Cross-sectional study of school girls	Poland	3271	Socioeconomic position (place of residence before high school, parental education and number of children in family)	Urban area of residence → earlier menarche Higher level of paternal education → earlier menarche Larger family size → later menarche (for those in urban and in an area with more people in agriculture than in industry)	[39]