Association between factors related to the pregnancy, neonatal period, and later complications (especially asthma) and menarcheal age in a sample of Lebanese girls

BACKGROUND: Studies about the majority of the factors that may potentially influence the pubertal timing and menarche were controversial. The objective was to evaluate the association between factors related to the pregnancy, neonatal period, and the complications that may happen later in life and the menarcheal age in a sample of Lebanese girls admitted or not to the NICU at birth. Our secondary objective was to try to find, for the first time in literature, a correlation between respiratory distress at birth and the need of oxygen therapy with the age of the first menses in these girls. METHODS: It is a cross-sectional retrospective study, conducted between January and March 2019. Our sample included all the 2474 girls born in Notre-Dame-de-Secours hospital, between 2000 and 2005; the sample consisted of 297 girls (97 girls admitted to the NICU and 200 randomly chosen to participate in our study with a ratio of 1:2 (1 girl admitted to the NICU vs 2 girls born in the nursery). RESULTS: Asthma later in life was significantly associated with lower age at menarche in girls, whereas a higher mother’s age at menarche and a higher gestational age were significantly associated with higher age at menarche in girls. When taking each cause of NICU admission as an independent variable, showed that a higher mother’s age at menarche was significantly associated with higher age at menarche in girls, whereas a higher number of days of phototherapy, a preeclampsia in the mother during pregnancy and asthma later in life in the girl were significantly associated with a lower age at menarche in girls. CONCLUSION: The timing of menarche seems to be associated with many factors in Lebanese girls that should not be disregarded by physicians.