What does the term menarche refer to?
What does menarche mean? Menarche is the medical term used to refer to a woman's first menstrual period. The average age at which menarche occurs is usually 12 years old, although it may vary from one woman to another. From this time on, women will begin to have menstrual cycles of about 28 days.
What is another word for menarche?
Word! Menstruation Another word for menstruation is "period." A period is the 2 to 7 days that a girl or woman has her menstrual flow , which is when blood and tissue leave her body through her vagina. Why does this happen? Each month, blood and tissue build up in the uterus to prepare for a fertilized egg in case a woman becomes pregnant.
What does menarche indicate in female?
Menarche ( / məˈnɑːrki / mə-NAR-kee; from Ancient Greek μήν (mēn) 'month', and ἀρχή (arkhē) 'beginning') is the first menstrual cycle, or first menstrual bleeding, in female humans. From both social and medical perspectives, it is often considered the central event of female puberty, as it signals the possibility of fertility .
What is considered early menarche?
“Age of menarche” is defined as age of the first menstrual period and the data was collected using the questionnaire method. The question was open-ended: “At what age did you have your first menstrual period (menarche)?” Age of years represents age between 11.00-11.99 years. We defined early menarche as <12 years.
What is the best definition of menarche?
Menarche is defined as the first menstrual period in a female adolescent. Menarche typically occurs between the ages of 10 and 16, with the average age of onset being 12.4 years.
What is an example of menarche?
Menarche, the first menstrual period, happens relatively late in puberty. Regular ovulation and the ability to carry a baby to full term usually follow menarche by several years. If it did not happen in Stage Three, menarche (first menstruation) should start now.
What is menarche in child development?
Menarche is the onset of menstruation. The average age for menarche in the United States is now 12.8 years. Menarche is preceded by puberty-induced body changes that occur between ages 9 and 16 years. The age at which menarche occurs is affected by genetic and environmental factors.
What is menarche in one sentence?
Menarche is defined as the stage in a women's lifetime during which there is an onset of menstruation which occurs at about 12-13 years of age in the life cycle of the female. Was this answer helpful?
What causes menarche?
But it's not clear what exactly causes early menarche. And in most cases , no specific cause is found. It can just be something that runs in your family. But health conditions involving the brain, ovaries, or thyroid gland can also cause early menarche as a result of sex hormone overproduction.
What is a menarche quizlet?
What is menarche? Menarche is the onset of menstruation, which usually occurs between ages 11 and 16 years.
What stage of puberty is menarche?
The first menstruation (menarche) is the most definitive sign of puberty in females. It occurs at an average age of 13 years in the Northern Hemisphere, with 95% of females reaching menarche between ages 11 and 15. In the United States, menarche occurs at an average age of 12.3 years.
What age is early menarche?
Early menarche is usually defined as menarche before the age of 12 years, although some researchers set it at ≤10 or 11 years.
What changes happen during menarche?
Such increase in estrogenic activity elicits a series of physical changes that prepare the body for potential reproduction. Among these are the widening of the pelvis and hips and an increase in body fat deposition particularly in hips and tights. Linear growth after menarche is limited.
Is age 10 too early to start period?
Menstruation typically begins at about age 12, but periods are possible as early as age 8. That's why it's important to discuss this topic early.
What are menarche and menopause?
Menarche is defined as the onset of a female's first menstrual cycle. The term menopause is often “used to describe the many years when our bodies are changing from menstrual cycles to a noncyclic stage” (Doress & Siegal, 1987. Ourselves, growing older: Women aging with knowledge and power.
Why has the age of menarche decreased?
During the past century, the average age at menarche among U.S. girls has decreased. The decline has been attributed to improvements in the nutritional and economic status of the population, but the data supporting this conclusion come primarily from small, nonrepresentative samples.
What is the significance of menarche?
In many cultures menarche signifies the maturation of a girl into a woman and is seen to solidify her sexual difference from males. The marking of this sexual difference may be ceremoniously performed with rituals that require the physical separation of the menarchal female from males or the community.
What are the negative experiences of menarche?
Negative experiences with menarche are often linked to feelings such as a "body out of control," being positioned as "different," "potentially sexual" with "physical contact with their father or with boys being curtailed" and with a general "loss of power" related to becoming a woman in a patriarchal social structure (Ussher 2006, p. 22).
What is the first period of a woman?
Menarche is a female's first menstruation that takes place in puberty, generally occurring sometime between the ages of ten and eighteen. Menarche indicates that a female's reproductive organs have become functionally active. During menstruation the uterus sheds its lining (endometrium) and discharges an unfertilized egg, along with blood, mucus, and tissue. Whereas puberty is more commonly celebrated, first menstruation may also be marked by specific rituals and or celebrations in particular cultures. Individual responses to menarche are often determined by how well a female understands the changes taking place in her body and by the social codes informing feminine power or women's roles.
Why do women start menstruating two years later than they should?
Medical studies show, for instance, that female athletes may start menstruating two or three years later than expected due to their high-energy output and low body fat. Often the family history of menarche is the best indicator as to when a female may expect to begin menstruating.
How do women feel about their first period?
Psychological and sociological studies indicate that most females experience a mix ture of embarrassment, apprehension, and excitement about menstruation. The anxieties associated with menarche may be lessened or alleviated by candid explanations of what a female might expect physically and by familial and cultural systems that promote menstruation as a positive experience worthy of celebration. It should be noted, however, as Janet Lee and Jennifer Sasser-Coen (1996) demonstrate in their study of menarchal experiences, females who have been sexually abused as children may feel an increased sense of anxiety, associating menarche with the material risks of pregnancy and as a further contamination or violation of their bodies.
How old is the average woman when she first experiences menarche?
The majority of females experience their first menstruation sometime between eleven and fifteen years of age, with the average age being thirteen.
What is menstruation in the United States?
In most European and North American cultures, such as the United States, menstruation is often understood according to the discourses of medicine or hygiene, compelling menarchal females to view menstruation as something dirty or something to be concealed from others.
What is menarche in girls?
Menarche is a normal process of maturation in girls along with the other changes that happen to a girl’s body during puberty. The timing of menarche is important. If a young girl has her first period before the age of 8 she likely has a condition known as precocious puberty.
When does menarche start?
on April 20, 2020. Menarche defines the onset of menstruation, which is a normal physiologic process that occurs at regular monthly intervals. Menarche typically occurs around age 12 but a few years earlier or later is completely normal.
Why is menarche delayed?
Delay of Menarche. Most likely the cause of this delay in menarche is due to continued interference with the hormonal cascade needed for menstruation to occur. This can happen in very athletic teen girls including ballet dancers and in girls suffering from eating disorders especially anorexia nervosa.
Why do women pass menarche?
This is because it can take a while for the hormone cascade that is responsible for ovulation and regular menstruation to mature. Even if a girl’s menstrual cycles are not regular, they have still passed menarche because they have had their first period. 1 . Alys Tomlinson / Getty Images.
What is the period of a woman?
In most women, it marks the beginning of regular monthly periods that will last until around the age of 52 which is typically when menopause is reached . Also Known As: the first period, first menstrual cycle.
How long does it take for a woman to get menarche?
The onset of menarche is sort of predictable. Typically menarche will occur about 2 ½ to 3 years after the first appearance of breast buds. 2 The time between breast buds and menarche is when girls may start to have problems with skin breakouts. It is also a time when girls can become moodier and start to talk back to their parents.
Can a girl have a congenital absence of her uterus?
Very rarely a girl could have a congenital absence of her uterus a condition called Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauer Syndrome. 4 . The onset of menarche marks the beginning of the reproductive years of a woman’s life. Actually beginning just before the first menstrual period a girl has had her first ovulation.
What is menarche in women?
It is a marker of normal female reproductive health and wellness. Most females recognize menarche as their body’s critical declaration of fertility. The absence of normal menstrual periods, not related to pregnancy, is called amenorrhea. Primary amenorrhea is the complete absence of any menstruation by 15 years of age. Secondary amenorrhea is the cessation of menstruation for 3 months or more after it has started. In the first 2 to 3 years after the initial onset of menses, it is common for irregular cycles to occur, with adolescents often having several months of missed menses. Many of these irregular cycles may be nonovulatory due to poor early regulation of the hormonal interactions between hypothalamic, pituitary, and gonadal hormones. Tracking menstruation on a paper calendar or using a smartphone app can help determine if menstrual periods are becoming more regular for adolescents and for predicting when ovulation is most likely to occur. The information can be useful for both pregnancy planning and pregnancy prevention. [4][5][6][7]
What hormones affect menarche?
It also can be affected by the thyroid, adrenal, and pancreatic hormones. Thyroid hormones are necessary for normal menses, and their deficiency or excess can inhibit menarche or lead to abnormalities in existing menstrual patterns. Abnormally elevated adrenal androgens or insulin can affect normal ovarian estrogen production and decrease the normal pituitary production of luteinizing hormone. Low adiposity can inhibit normal menarche, and it is estimated that a minimum body fat of 17% is necessary for menarche, with 22% body fat necessary for maintaining normal menses. The hormone leptin appears to have a role in the maintenance of normal menstrual cycles as well. Stress and obesity appear to be predictors of early menarche.
How to diagnose amenorrhea?
Anatomical problems leading to amenorrhea usually can be diagnosed by a thorough history and careful visual exam of the external genitalia and manual exam of the reproductive organs of the adolescent female patient . By law, clinicians must take a history in private and maintain confidentiality whenever possible. It is also important to explain the exam in detail and provide a chaperone during the exam, especially when the practitioner is male. Menarche can be delayed in adolescents with very low body mass due to starvation, malabsorption, or an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa. Menarche can be delayed in normally developing females due to abnormalities of the female genitourinary tract. Females with an imperforate hymen may present with delayed menarche and often have a history of recurrent cyclic abdominal or pelvic pain. On exam, they often have a bulging, bluish-colored hymen. A manual exam of the reproductive organs may reveal a blind vaginal pouch in patients with Mullerian agenesis. Ultrasound imaging can be used to confirm anatomic problems, or ultrasound can be used in patients who are unwilling to have a manual exam of their internal reproductive organs. Treatment for persistent amenorrhea depends on the etiology. [12]
What is the term for the onset of menstruation?
Menarche refers to the onset of menstruation during puberty. Less than 10% of US girls start to menstruate before 11 years, and 90% of all US girls are menstruating by 13.75 years of age, with a median age of 12.43 years. Ethnic differences remained even after adjustment for current body mass index and several social and economic variables (Chumlea et al., 2003). Irregular menstrual cycles occur most frequently within the first 2–3 years after menarche and are often anovulatory. By the third gynecological year, 60–80% of cycles are 21–34 days long, as is typical of adults, and within the sixth gynecological year most of the cycles are ovulatory (Adams Hillard, 2002 ). Approximately 4–5% of children aged under 12 suffer from migraine, with little apparent difference between boys and girls until the time around puberty ( Mortimer et al., 1992b). After menarche , the incidence diverges and amongst girls there is a rapid increase which continues throughout early adult life (Stewart et al., 1992). Age- and sex-specific incidence rates for the onset of migraine headache with and without visual aura have been clearly described. Among both males and females, the incidence rate for migraine with visual aura appears to have peaked as much as 3–5 years earlier than the age peak for migraine without aura. For males, the age-specific incidence for migraine with visual aura appears to have peaked on or before 5 years of age, while the highest incidence for migraine without aura occurred between 10 and 11 years of age. By contrast, in girls experiencing migraine with aura the peak incidence was 12–13 years of age, while in those experiencing migraine without aura it was 14–17 years of age (Stewart et al, 1991). Notwithstanding, it is likely that the erratic estrogen secretion occurring in postmenarcheal anovulatory cycles may have a role in the onset of migraine with aura, while the establishment of the ovulatory menstrual cycle is significantly relevant to the onset of migraine without aura.
What are the symptoms of a period?
Symptoms reported in the period just prior to menstruation included breast swelling and pain, headaches, abdominal bloating, depression, anxiety, poor concentration, irritability, and lethargy. While this collection of symptoms is now referred to as premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and is recognized as a diagnostic entity, there can be a wide variety of symptoms, and diagnosis is from self-report ( Richardson, 1995 ). There is little information to indicate how many women with Down syndrome experience PMS, how it might be expressed, and how it should be diagnosed in this population.
Does anxiety affect the menstrual cycle?
From studies in the typical population, there is evidence that there are individual differences in reactivity to the menstrual cycle. Women who had high anxiety and women with panic disorder reported higher levels of physical and psychological distress during the premenstrual phase ( Sigmon, Dorhofer, Rohan, & Boulard, 2000 ). In addition, when these women were in psychological distress associated with the menstrual cycle, they were more likely to have maladaptive coping strategies, such as mental or behavioral disengagement and denial ( Sigmon, Whitcomb-Smith, Rohan, & Kendrew, 2004 ). If these findings are extrapolated to adolescents with Down syndrome, it may be that prior high levels of anxiety may lead to behavioral decompensation and regression soon after menarche in some adolescent females with Down syndrome.
Does mitosis occur during menstrual cycle?
This information was forthcoming in the early 1980s in a series of studies showing that mitotic activity of breast epithelium varies markedly during the normal menstrual cycle, with peak activity occurring in the luteal phase ( Fig. 40.4) ( 13,14). This shows that regular ovulatory cycling is positively correlated with mitotic activity and explains why a more rapid establishment of regular cycles after menarche will be associated with the greatest increase in breast cancer risk. The mitotic activity during the luteal phase is roughly double the level in the follicular phase. Based on the fit shown in Fig. 40.2, we calculate that the mitotic rate in the postmenopausal period is approximately one-fifth the mitotic rate during the follicular phase of the cycle: data on this are sparse, but this is completely in line with what has been found ( 15 ).
What is Menarche?
The term menarche is defined as the first menstrual cycle that a female experiences in her life. In scientific terms, it means the first menstrual bleeding which signifies the onset of puberty in females and the ability of a female to potentially reproduce in the future.
When does menarche occur?
Menarche is defined by the physiological changes that lead to the first menstrual cycle in the female human body. It occurs, on average, at the age of 13.
What hormones are released during menarche?
At the onset of puberty, gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is produced by the hypothalamus and released into the bloodstream. GnRH then acts on the pituitary gland to produce and release follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH) into the blood. FSH and LH then travel in the blood toward the ovaries, which then release a set of hormones known as estrogens. These hormones cause the maturation of the follicles in the ovaries which hold eggs.
How long does it take for a woman to have a menstrual cycle?
This typically occurs monthly; however, the cycles can range anywhere from 28 to 45 days, and this is still considered normal and regular. An irregular cycle is when menstruation cycle length differs every cycle due to irregular hormonal release, which makes it difficult to predict the length and sequence of events leading up to menstruation. The hormonal rises and drops throughout a menstrual cycle can be seen below:
Why is there such a wide age range for menarche?
The reason such a wide age range exists for menarche in females is manifold. Firstly, the biology of each individual is so distinct that it can easily impact when they will reach menarche. Secondly, many nutritional factors can play a vital role in determining the age of menarche. Those with a more well-rounded nutritional status or diet tend to reach menarche at a younger age than those with poor nutritional intake. Furthermore, individuals with higher BMI and who eat high-fat foods appear to reach menarche faster or at an earlier age than those females with lower BMI. Finally, genetics and many environmental factors can play a vital role in determining the age of menarche in females. Overall, the average or mean age of menarche in females around the world has been decreasing over the last century.
How old is a woman when she has her first menstrual cycle?
It can vary anywhere from when a female is 9 years of age all the way to 16 years of age. This age range is considered to within normal limits. The average or mean age for menarche around the world has been calculated to be around 13 years of age.
