Menarchal Age in Norway: Halt in the Trend towards Earlier Maturation

STATISTICS on the age at menarche have shown that girls have been maturing progressively earlier in all parts of Europe, North America and Japan during the past fifty years1,2. The rate of advance of menarche, about 4 to 5 months per decade, has been constant in all countries during this period. There is some evidence that this advance of the onset of puberty can be traced back to the middle of the last century in some countries, among them Norway1. There have been no published reports of a cessation of this trend, and Tanner2 believes that the trend “may be extrapolated onwards for at least another decade or two”.