Evidence for a Secular Trend in Age of Menarche

WE present data documenting a secular trend toward an earlier age of menarche in Europe and the United States in the past century. There has been recent controversy on whether such a change has taken place.1 , 2 We have reviewed 218 reports on age of menarche in Europe from 1795 to 1981, covering 220,037 individuals.3 4 5 6 The historical European data are mainly from Backman's extensive collation.3 Figure 1 and Table 1 show that in Europe the age of menarche has become earlier by two to three months per decade in the past century and a half. The greatest rate of decline, 3.2 months per decade, has . . .