By: SUTAPA BHOWMIK, ARGINA KHATUN
The adolescent phase is marked by psychological and hormonal changes, accompanied by physical and cognitive development, which every girl experiences. During this phase, menarche begins, influenced by factors such as nutrition, per capita income, body composition, and genetics. A community-based cross-sectional study was carried out from March to October 2023 among 568 Bengalee Hindu adolescent girls aged 10-14 years from urban and semi-urban areas of the Cooch Behar district in West Bengal, India. In the studied group, 168 girls were pre-menarche, and 400 were post-menarche. Standard procedures were used to record five anthropometric measurements: height (cm), weight (kg), biceps skinfolds (mm), triceps skinfolds (mm), and subscapular skinfolds (mm). Post-menarche girls showed significantly higher average height (cm), weight (kg), BMI (kg/m^2), biceps skinfolds (mm), triceps skinfolds (mm), subscapular skinfolds (mm), percent body fat (PBF%), fat mass (FM kg), fat-free mass (FFM kg), fat mass index (FMI kg/m^2), and fat-free mass index (FFMI kg/m^2) compared to pre-menarche girls. The mean differences in all measurements between pre-menarche and post-menarche girls in each age group were statistically significant at the 0.05 level. Multinomial logistic regression analysis indicated that PBF, FFM, and FFMI significantly affected menarcheal status.
