PRESCHOOL STUNTING, AGE AT MENARCHE AND ADOLESCENT HEIGHT - A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY IN RURAL SENEGAL

Objective: To study the impact of preschool stunting on adolescent hei ght and age at menarche in rural West Africa. Design: A longitudinal, population-based study. Setting: The Niakhar study area in Central Sen egal. Subjects: 1650 children aged 12-17 y with known height-for-age a t the age of 2-5 y. Main outcome measures: Adolescent height. mean age at menarche of girls estimated by the status quo method. Results: The subjects were divided into three groups of preschool height-for-age: < -2, -2 to -1 and > -1 z-score of the NCHS reference. The mean height during adolescence differed significantly according to preschool heig ht-for-age for both boys and girls (P < 0.001). Relative risk of adole scent stunting according to preschool stunting varied from 2.0-4.0 dep ending on age and sex. Estimated mean age at menarche was 17.2 (95% fi ducial confidence interval: 16.6-18.7), 16.5 (16.1-17.2) and 15.6 (15. 2-16.0)y, respectively, for the three groups of preschool height-for-a ge (P ( 0.001). Mean increment from age 5 y to adolescence did not dif fer significantly among the boys according to preschool stunting, but among the girls aged 16-17 y, the increment was higher for those who h ad been stunted during preschool life (P < 0.01). Conclusion: Some evi dence of catch-up growth between the ages of 5 and 17 y was found for stunted girls. The significant delay in sexual maturation of the stunt ed girls suggests that stunted children of both sexes have a possibili ty of catch-up growth after the age of 17 y.