Anthropometric and Menstrual Characteristics of Girls from Nigeria and Niger Republic

This study investigated the anthropometric and menstrual characteristics of girls from Nigeria and Niger Republic, who are students of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Girls from Nigeria (n = 160) and Niger republic (n = 38) with mean age 22.81 ± 3.33 and 25.22 ± 1.83 respectively participated in the study. Height, weight, chest waist, hip circumferences and waist-hip ratio and body mass index were obtained following standard protocols. Menstrual characteristics of the subjects were obtained through designed questionnaire. The result showed that birth weight and BMI are significantly higher in Nigerian than Nigerien girls (P<0.001). Menarcheal age and menstrual cycle length of Nigerian girls is lower than that of girls from Niger republic (P <0.05). Premenstrual syndrome symptoms showed significant association with amenorrhea, backache and tiredness in girls from Niger republic (P <0.001, P<0.01 and P< 0.001) respectively. Overall, the study showed that girls from Nigeria showed higher values than girls from Niger republic. This study tends to suggests that girls from Nigeria may have higher reproductive success than girls from Niger Republic, this differences might result from environmental factors that need further probing.