Age at menarche in deaf girls

Area of Science:

• Reproductive health
• Pediatric endocrinology
• Developmental biology

Background:

• Menarcheal timing is influenced by various factors, including genetics and environment.
• Sensory deprivation, such as blindness, has been hypothesized to affect menarcheal timing.
• The impact of deafness on menarcheal timing remains less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To estimate the age at menarche in a cohort of deaf girls.
• To compare menarcheal timing in deaf girls with data from other sensory impairments.
• To investigate potential effects of sensory deprivation on reproductive development.

Main Methods:

• Utilized status quo and retrospective methods for age at menarche estimation.
• Analyzed data from 212 deaf girls aged 7–20 years.
• Employed probit analysis for median age calculation and retrospective recall for mean age.

Main Results:

• Median age at menarche via probit analysis was 11.91 ± 0.25 years.
• Mean age based on retrospective recall in older girls was 12.56 ± 0.16 years.
• A difference of approximately 0.6 years was observed between the two estimation methods.

Conclusions:

• The probit-estimated median age at menarche in deaf girls is comparable to that reported for blind girls.
• Retrospective age estimates were later, indicating potential recall bias or other factors.
• Current data are inconclusive regarding an accelerating effect of deafness-induced sensory deprivation on menarche.