Trends of Age at Onset of Menarche Among Indian Women of Reproductive Age and Its Association with the Presence of PCOS and Related Features: A Multicentric Cross Sectional Study

Age at menarche is believed to be an important indicator of reproductive maturity in women and hence a mirror to the health status of the population. Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder that affects reproductive-age women. Girls with early menarche are more likely to develop PCOS-like features. The paper explores the associations of age at menarche with PCOS and other health outcomes especially in relation to the presence of PCOS, related reproductive and metabolic abnormalities. This is a secondary analysis of data collected from analytical cross-sectional study, conducted at ten centres in the six zones of India, as a part of ICMR task force project. The participants (n = 10,109) who were enrolled for the study comprised of women aged 18–40 years. The mean age of menarche was 13.15 ± SD. The age of menarche reduced at a rate of 0.018 (P value = years per unit increase in years). Those with late onset of menarche had 1.45 times more odds of developing PCOS when compared to those who had a normal age of onset of menarche. What about early onset of menarche? A receding age at menarche among younger girls as compared to older women which may be due to a trend of reducing age at menstrual onset. While, there was an association of PCOS diagnosis with extremes of age at menarche, more marked in case of late onset of menarche, more studies are necessary to establish the relationship.