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Dr Odile Bagot (Gynecologist-obstetrician)
According to a new American study, the age of first periods in young girls is earlier than in previous generations. A few months of difference, seen in particular among ethnic minorities and people with low socio-economic status, which says something about our health.
Younger generations are experiencing their first period earlier than 50 years ago. This is what a new American study published in the journal announces JAMA Network Open this Wednesday. A detail ? Not really.
Average age of first period increased from 12 and a half to 12 years
The scientists examined data from more than 70,000 participants of all races and socioeconomic backgrounds, born between 1950 and 2005, who responded to surveys as part of the Apple Women’s Health Study. This long-term research on menstrual cycles uses data from the Apple Health mobile application. Result :
- The age of menarche was 12.5 years for women born between 1950 and 1969 and the rates of early (11 years) and very early (9 years) menarche were 8.6% and 0.6%, respectively;
- Among women born between 2000 and 2005, the average age of menarche was 11.9 years and the rates of early and very early menarche were 15.5% and 1.4%, respectively;
- At the same time, the percentage of participants who had a regular menstrual cycle within two years of their first period decreased from 76% to 56%;
- Other visible information: Researchers found that the trends were even stronger among people from racial and ethnic minority groups and/or lower socioeconomic status.
“This is important because early and irregular periods can signal physical and psychosocial problems later in life, and these trends may contribute to increasing health problems and disparities in the United States.” said lead study author Dr. Zifan Wang, a postdoctoral researcher at the TH Chan School of Public Health
A bad sign for the health of young girls?
Why does this 6-month change question scientists? Because according to them, menstruation is a vital sign. Early periods and longer cycle regulation time are associated with poor health effects. “But we already knew that with regard to girls suffering from precocious puberty, who are linked to endocrine disruptors” tells us Dr Odile Bagot, gynecologist and member of our committee of experts. She regrets, precisely, that respondents who experienced early puberty were included in the study, which further widens the gap. On the other hand, she sees in the results and this advance of the first rules two factors to take into account:
“Researchers suggest a link betweenBMI and the age of puberty, and it is clear that today there are more obese children, who will therefore enter puberty earlier. The other link is the social economic level, and the junk food that can reign there, these are two parameters to take into account.”
Is getting settled early risky?
But what are the risks of being settled earlier in life as a woman? For our expert, they are therefore linked to this BMI present more than to the date of the first period. “The authors of the study highlight the risks of cardiovascular disease and miscarriage, which are also risks encountered in obesity. Longer life-long estrogen impregnation would increase the risk of breast cancer, but this is also the case with obesity.
“As for the number of years that must pass for the cycles to be regular, which is longer today, we can see a link with the PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), which can also be linked to obesity” adds our expert.
On the other hand, the doctor points out that this is an average dominated by lower economic categories in the United States, so it is not necessarily a risk in the general population and not automatically transposable to young European girls.
A point confirmed by Professor Régis Coutant, pediatric endocrinologist at Angers University Hospital, contacted by Doctissimo.
“This North American data is new. It remains to be assessed whether these observations apply to girls in Europe (the BMI of girls in Europe, which varies depending on the country, is generally lower during adolescence than that of North American girls). The consequences on medium and long-term health (fertility, risk of cancer) remain to be evaluated.