[Anthropometric evolution of height, weight and total body water pre and post menarche]

The aim of the survey was to assess the anthropometric evolution of height, weight and total body water 1 year prior and until 1 year after the menarche in a higher middle level scholar adolescents group from a double-time secondary school belonging to Cordoba National University. A longitudinal study of 48 adolescents was performed. The control was made every six months and at the time of menarche, Twuenty anthropometric variables were relieved from which height and weight were used, the total body water (TBW) was determined by Mellits and Cheek equation and biological maturation was assessed according to Tanner criteria. Height and weight, and total body water increase pre- and post-menarche was determined, with +/- 1SD, as well as the average of studied variables +/- 1 SD. Height and weight increase was of 7.813 cm (+/-1.61) and 7.488 Kg(+/-2.3) respectively 12 months prior menarche, with a major speed in the first semester. After menarche, in the following months, height as much as weight increase, more the former than the latter, but there is less increase than in the year previously to menarche. The increase in the 12 posterior months has an average of 3.48 cm(+/-1.18) for height and 2,524 Kg(+/-1.90) for weight, with a major speed in the first semester. Likewise, the total body water decrease as an index of the body fat and is inversely correlated with the increase of weight in fat. We conclude that these results are perfectly correlated with the studied biological phenomenon, according to patterns described by other authors in other countries with different racial features. The onset of menarche is a good parameter to predict, rather approximately, without using another estimates, the final height in a girl.