Nutrition and menarche in rural Hyderabad.

Mean age at menarche was estimated in 739 rural Hyderabad girls aged 12 to 18 years using the status-quo method. These girls had been previously measured and were divided into four groups according to their height at age five. Those who were short at age five had a significantly later menarche (15.2+/-0.13) than those who were tall at age five (13.7+/-0.19). Since 14% of the short-at-five girls had had signs of severe undernutrition and none of the tall had had these, the shortness and late menarche are both attributed to undernutrition.