Age at menarche in relation to adult body size and physique

The relationship of early and late menarche with adult body dimensions has been studied on a sample of 147 young adult women drawn from an urban Punjabi population of Chandigarh and Ludhiana. The results indicate that girls with early menarche (age 10 to 11) have significantly smaller skeletal dimensions (both longitudinal and transverse) and more subcutaneous fat than those with average or late menarche. The girls with late menarche have on average more height for weight than early maturers. Results indicate that there is a biological determinant of the observed association between menarcheal age and fatness and adult body size.