Age of pubertal stages including menarche in Greek girls

The age at the different stages of pubertal development, including menarche, was assessed by the status quo method in 1366 middle-class girls living in Athens. The initial pubertal event in the average Athenian girl was the appearance of pubic hair along the labiae (P10:8.85, P50:10.47), followed shortly by breast budding (P10:9.39, P50:10.62), and later on by axillary hair growth (P10:10.55, P50:11.63). The age at menarche was 12.58 +/- 0.07 years. It seems tht Athenian girls of 1979 have one of the earliest ages of menarche reported. Recollected age data on menarche when compared to previous data from the Greek population show a decrease of 0.46 years/decade from 1935 to 1964 and no appreciable change from 1964 to 1979. Although these data are not absolutely comparable from the methodological point of view, they may indicate that the trend in menarcheal age in Athens is levelling off.