[Growth of the trunk and lower limbs after the menarche]

The author has made a longitudinal biometric study of the growth in height of the upper and lower segments of the body in 45 girls. He concludes that growth after the menarche is almost exclusively in the upper segment. In 80 per cent of cases, the growth of the lower segment was less than 1.5 cms. The author shows that this residual growth depends on the maturity of the skeleton at the time of puberty. It is greater when skeletal maturity is delayed. Other important factors were the height of the child at the age of 8 and the growth rate between the ages of 8 and 10 years: the bigger the child, the smaller will be the amount of growth after the menarche. The first menstruation appeared earlier when the growth rate between the ages of 8 and 10 years was greater.