Age of the onset of menarche and its complications: a literature review

Abstract

Background: The menarche plays an important role in a woman's life, as its onset may generate the development of certain pathologies in the future.

Objectives: To review the updated bibliography about risk factors related to the age of onset of menarche.

Search strategy: A systematic search review of PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, EBSCO-Host, Springer Link, and Clinical Key from November 2021 to May 2022.

Data collection and analysis: From each article a descriptive summary organized by first author, year of publication, type of article, characteristics of the study, and results was extracted. The results of the different articles were compared before using them in the current literature review.

Main results: A total of 15 824 articles were collected, from which 33 articles were used following the inclusion and exclusion criteria. It was found that an early estrogen stimulus triggers a predisposing factor for pathologies such as insulin resistance, asthma and short stature. In contrast, a late estrogenic stimulus generates low bone mineral density.

Conclusions: The importance of menarche as a protective or triggering factor of pathologies helps us to implement preventive measures to avoid these future pathologies.

Keywords: early menarche; first menstrual period; late menarche; menarche; puberty; review article.