MENARCHE IN INTENSIVELY TRAINED GYMNASTS, SWIMMERS AND TENNIS PLAYERS

It has been hypothesized that young athletes, undertaking intensive tr aining, have delayed menarche due to the effects of training at an ear ly age, although it is known that other genetic and environmental fact ors contribute to this observed later menarche. As part of a longitudi nal study of the effects of intensive training during puberty and adol escence we investigated age of menarche in 222 athletes and their moth ers. All the sports studied (gymnastics, swimming and tennis) had late r mean ages of menarche (14.3, 13.3 and 13.2 years respectively) than the previously reported UK reference value of 13.00 years. A positive correlation was found between menarcheal age in mothers and daughters (r = 0.27, p<0.01). Analysis of covariance, using maternal menarcheal age, socioeconomic group, duration of training and type of sport, conf irmed that maternal menarcheal age and type of sport were having a sig nificant influence on subject's age of menarche. As maternal menarchea l age and sport were the best predictors of menarcheal age in the athl etes we studied, it would appear that menarche was intrinsically late rather than delayed. This suggests that some form of sport-specific se lection may have occurred. It therefore seems likely that late maturat ion of gymnasts contributes to a girl's decision to continue participa ting in the sport rather than intensive training delaying menarche.