Association between puberty and weight, height and body mass index in a developing community

Objective: To evaluate the epidemiology of pubertal development of girls in a developing community. Methods: The cross-sectional study was undertaken in July 2005, on 788 healthy 7-16 years old girls in Gorgan, the most populous city of Golestan province in northern Iran. Physical examination, was performed and height, weight and body mass index were noted. Pubertal stages were assessed by clinical examination according to the methods of Marshall and Tanner, while the mean menarcheal age was calculated by using the status quo method. The data was treated with analysis of variance Pearson's linear regression and SPSS version 16.0. Results: The mean age, weight, height and BMI ± standard deviation of the studied girls were 10.32±2.48 years, 35.07±11.30 kg, 140.11±14.62 cm, and 17.34±3.55 kg/m ² respectively. Menarche had occurred with the mean menarcheal age being 12.15±1.11 years. The mean age at the onset of breast development was 10.55±1.57 years. There was no significant association between mean height, weight and BMI and the menarcheal age and pubertal stage. Conclusion: Based on the epidemiology of pubertal development of girls in the study, there seems to be a case for creating particular guidelines for pubertal development assessment for each type of society in addition to the standard international guidelines in this regard.