Factors that affect menarche in Japanese national-level track-and-field athletes

The minimum body mass index (BMI) required to menarche and the relationship between the training onset age of sports and menarche is not fully understood. The aim of this study is to elucidate the minimum BMI required to attain menarche in female adolescent athletes competing at a national level, and to determine how the occurrence of menarche is associated with training onset age in track-and-field athletes.

Overall, 134 sprinters and 44 long-distance (LD) runners of ninth-grade females at a national level were enrolled and an anonymous questionnaire was administered.

As BMI increased, the proportion of athletes who had attained menarche increased. The BMI cutoff values for menarche were 17.3 and 17.1 kg/m² for sprinters and LD runners, respectively. Menarche had not occurred in almost 50% of the LD runners who began training at elementary school, and among LD runners, those who began training at elementary school had 18.4 higher odds of not attaining menarche until the age of 15 years as opposed to those who started training after elementary school.

The BMI cutoff values could be an indicator for menarche in sprinters and LD runners. For LD runners, starting to compete at elementary school could be a risk factor for delayed menarche.