Differential onset of Puberty and Adolescence among girls and boys of a Central Indian Town (Sagar)

The objective of present study was to find out the pubertal age from adolescent symptoms, and correlation with nutritional status. To achieve the goal a cross sectional study was conducted on sub sample of 241 boys and girls (108 girls and 133 boys) of 12 to 18 years of age of district Sagar of Madhya Pradesh. Adolescent symptoms namely age at menarche in girls and hair at auxiliary, moustache and beard were recorded for boys. Beside that anthropometric measurements- height and weight were also taken following standard procedure. It was found that the underweight boys and girls were on an average 1 year delayed in appearance of adolescent symptom than normal subjects. It is surprising that the stunted girls have on average 6 month early menarche; whereas stunted boys have on an average 8 month delayed appearance of adolescent symptoms. Undernourished girls were found to have an average 2 years 6 month delayed menarche than normal girls.