Age at menarche and pelvic girdle syndrome in pregnancy: a population study of 74973 women

Please cite this paper as: Bjelland E, Eberhard-Gran M, Nielsen C, Eskild A. Age at menarche and pelvic girdle syndrome in pregnancy: a population study of 74973 women. BJOG 2011;118:1646-1652. Objective To study the association of age at menarche with presence of pelvic girdle syndrome in pregnancy. Design Population study. Setting Norway 1999-2007. Population A total of 74973 pregnant women in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study. Methods Data were obtained by self-administered questionnaires in weeks 17 and 30 of gestation. Main outcome measure Pelvic girdle syndrome in pregnancy at 30weeks of gestation, defined as pain in the pubic symphysis in the anterior pelvis and in both sacroiliac joints in the posterior pelvis. Results The prevalence of pelvic girdle syndrome was 20.6% (328/1593) in women with menarche before the age of 11, it was 16.3% (3200/22044) in women with menarche at the age of 12 and 12.7% (1252/9859) in women with menarche after the age of 14 (chi-square test for trend, P