Abstract
STATISTICS on the age at menarche have shown that girls have been maturing progressively earlier in all parts of Europe, North America and Japan during the past fifty years1,2. The rate of advance of menarche, about 4 to 5 months per decade, has been constant in all countries during this period. There is some evidence that this advance of the onset of puberty can be traced back to the middle of the last century in some countries, among them Norway1. There have been no published reports of a cessation of this trend, and Tanner2 believes that the trend “may be extrapolated onwards for at least another decade or two”.
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References
Tanner, J. M., Growth at Adolescence (Blackwell, Oxford, 1962).
Tanner, J. M., in Endocrine and Genetic Diseases of Childhood (edit. by Gardner, L. I.) (Saunders, London, 1969).
Bojlén, K., Rasch, G., and Weis Bentzon, M., Acta Obst et Gyn Scand., 33, 405 (1954).
Schiøtz, C., Medicinsk Revue (Oslo), 36, 149 (1919).
Schiøtz, C., Nordisk Medicinsk Tidsskrift, 2, 65 (1930).
Letting, O., in Kroppslig og Intellektuell Utvikling (Letting, O., and Ribsskog, B) (Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, Oslo, 1956).
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BRUNDTLAND, G., WALLØE, L. Menarchal Age in Norway: Halt in the Trend towards Earlier Maturation. Nature 241, 478–479 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/241478a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/241478a0
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