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Rose E. Frisch, PhD; Astrid V. Gotz-Welbergen, MD; Janet W. McArthur, MD; Tenley Albright, MD; Jelia Witschi, MS; Beverly Bullen, ScD; Jason Birnholz, MD; Robert B. Reed, PhD; Howard Hermann, MD

JAMA. 1981;246(14):1559-1563.

Abstract
Age at menarche and menstrual periodicity of 21 college swimmers and 17 runners were studied in relation to the age of initiating training. The 18 premenarche-trained athletes had a mean menarcheal age of 15.1±0.5 years, whereas the 20 postmenarche-trained athletes had a mean menarcheal age of 12.8±0.2 years, similar to that of the college control subjects, 12.7±0.4 years. Each year of training before menarche delayed menarche by five months (0.4 years). Of the premenarche-trained athletes, 61% had irregular menstrual cycles and 22% were amenorrheic, whereas 60% of the postmenarche-trained athletes had regular menstrual cycles and none were amenorrheic. Training increased the incidence of oligomenorrhea and amenorrhea among both premenarche- and postmenarche-trained athletes. Metabolic and hormonal changes consequent to an increased lean/fat ratio may explain these findings.

(JAMA 1981;246:1559-1563)

Author Affiliations
From the Departments of Population Sciences (Dr Frisch), Nutrition (Ms Witschi), and Biostatistics (Dr Reed), Harvard School of Public Health; the Harvard Center for Population Studies (Dr Frisch); the Departments of Gynecology (Dr McArthur) and Psychiatry (Dr Hermann), Massachusetts General Hospital; the Department of Health Sciences, Boston University (Dr Bullen); and the Department of Ultrasonography and Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital (Dr Birnholz), Boston; and the Center for Population Studies and Heilig-Geist Hospital, Cologne, West Germany (Dr Gotz-Welbergen). Dr Albright is in private practice in Boston.

Footnotes
Presented in part at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, June 17-19, 1981, Cincinnati.

Reprint requests to Harvard Center for Population Studies, 9 Bow St, Cambridge, MA 02138 (Dr Frisch).

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