ESPE Abstracts

Key words: girls, small for gestational age, thelarche, pubarche, menarche.

Background: Small for gestational age (SGA) babies are more prone to have an earlier onset of pubertal development and menarche. We conducted a study comparing the first menarche of small for gestational age (SGA) to appropriate for gestational age (AGA) girl newborns.

Objective: The objective of the study is to determine whether born for gestational age (SGA) have an early or delayed menarche compared to girls born appropriate for gestational age (AGA).

Method: This is a descriptive case –control study based on born girls at Notre Dame Des Secours University Medical Center (NDS-UMC), Byblos, Lebanon between 2000 -2002. Of these girls, 49 were diagnosed as being born SGA using charts produced by I. Olsen et al in 2010. Of these 49 cases, 31 cases SGA were included in our study and 31 girls born appropriate for gestational age were considered as controls.

Results: We used ‘Z test’ to compare the average age at menarche in both group of girls. The results showed that the average age at menarche in girls born SGA was 11.99 years whereas the average age at menarche in girls born AGA was 12.3 years. The age of menarche of SGA group was earlier than AGA group but this difference was not statistically significant. The beginning of both pubarche and thelarche in SGA and AGA girls was studied and did not show any statistical significance. The average age of thelarche for SGA was 10.78 years comparing to 11.03 years for AGA girls whereas the average age for pubarche for SGA girls was 10.8 years comparing to 11.04 years for AGA.

Conclusion: Our study showed that there is no statistical difference in the average age at menarche between girls born SGA and girls born AGA even if the average age (11.99 years) was earlier in SGA comparing to AGA(12.3 years) girls. An earlier onset of thelarche and pubarche was seen also between the SGA and AGA girls without a statistical difference in the average age.