Sexual Maturation Pattern in Adolescent School Girls of Rural India: A Cross Sectional Study from Nagpur

Abstract

A b s t r a c tBackground: Puberty is transformation of the child into an adult. It includes all the events of somatic and mental maturation. Secondary sex characters were also a part of this period. The objective was to assess the pattern of sexual maturation of adolescent school girls in rural India. Methods: This was a community based cross sectional study conducted among school children of Sevanand High school, Mahadula, Nagpur. 322 girls in the age group of 10-18 years were assessed for sexual maturation. The pubertal evaluation was made with reference to Tanner stages and grading was done as per Tanner's scale. For statistical analysis, median and standard error along with 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated using Epi Info statistical package programme version 6.0 updated 2009. Statistical significance was assessed at a type I error rate of 0.05. Results: We found that pubertal changes appeared earlier in girls. The first to appear was breast development at a median age of 10.40 years. The last to appear was pubic hair development (PH5) at median age 16.87 years, the total time taken for complete sexual maturation being 6.38 years. Median age of menarche was found to be13.18 years. Conclusion:The pattern of sexual maturation in rural adolescent school children revealed that though puberty set in earlier in girls, but took longer time for complete maturation.