Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-2lccl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T06:50:42.028Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Intercorrelations between menstrual cycle patterns and body dimensions in Austrian women

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2008

Sylvia Kirchengast
Sylvia Kirchengast
Affiliation:
Institute for Human Biology, University of Vienna, Austria
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The relationships between 29 cephalic and post-cephalic body dimensions and the length and regularity of the menstrual cycle, as well as the duration of menstrual bleeding, have been investigated in 327 Austrian women. Five of the eight head measurements and seventeen of the 21 body measurements correlated statistically significantly with the individual menstrual variables. Measures of facial and post-cephalic robustness and the amount of subcutaneous fat tissue correlated negatively with the length of cycle, as well as with the difference between minimum and maximum cycle length, a measure of the cycle regularity. The post-cephalic height and length dimensions correlated significantly positively with bleeding duration. The results indicated a marked influence of body type, especially the amount of subcutaneous fat, on the length and regularity of the menstrual cycle.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , April 1994 , pp. 207 - 216
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baltzer, J. & Mickan, H. (1985) Gynäkologie. Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Bean, J. A., Leeper, J. D., Wallace, R. B., Sherman, B. M. & Jagger, H. (1979) Variations in the reporting of menstrual histories. Am. J. Epidemiol. 109, 181.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bergsten-Brucefors, A. (1976) A note on the accuracy of recalled age at menarche. Ann. hum. Biol. 3, 71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bryan Pedersen, A., Bartholomew, M. J., Dolence, L. A., Aljadir, L. P., Netteburg, K. L. & Lloyd, T. (1991) Menstrual differences due to vegetarian and nonvegetarian diets. Am. J. clin. Nutr. 53, 879.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiazze, L., Brayer, F. F., Macisco, J. I., Parker, M. P. & Duff, B. J. (1968) The length and variability of the human menstrual cycle. J. Am. Med. Ass. 203, 377.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clark, P. & Spuhler, J. N. (1959) Differential fertility in relation to body dimensions. Hum. Biol. 31, 23.Google ScholarPubMed
Cravioto, P., Cravioto, J., Bravo, G., Fernandez, G., Sanchez, B. G., Galvan, F. & mendoza, M. (1987) Edad de la menarquia en un poblado rural: exactitud del recordatorio cuarto anos depues. Bol. Med. Hosp. Infant, 44, 589.Google Scholar
Cutler, W. B., Preti, G., Krieger, A., Huggins, G. R., Garcia, C. R. & Lawley, H. J. (1986) Human axillary secretions influence women's menstrual cycles: the role of donor extract from men. Horm. Behav. 20, 463.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, D. J., Hoffmann, R. G., Kalkhoff, G. K. & Kissebah, A. H. (1983) Relationship of androgenetic activity to body fat topography, fat cell morphology and metabolic aberrations in premenopausal women. J. clin. Endocr. Metab. 57, 304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feher, T. & Halmy, L. (1975) The production and fate of adrenal DHEA in normal and overweight subjects. Horm. Res. 6, 303.Google Scholar
Forney, J. P., Milewich, L., Chen, G. T., Garlock, J. L., Schwarz, B. E., Edman, C. D. & Macdonald, P. C. (1981) Aromatization of androstendione to estrone by human adipose tissue in vitro. Correlation with adipose tissue mass, age and endometrial neoplasia. J. clin. Endocr. Metab. 53, 192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frisch, R. (1985) Fatness, menarche and female fertility. Perspect. Biol. Med. 28, 611.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frisch, R & McArthur, J. (1974) Menstrual cycles: fatness as a determinant of minimum weight for height necessary for their maintenance or onset. Science, 185, 949.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garn, S. M. & Lavelle, M. (1983) Reproductive histories of low weight girls and women. Am. J. clin. Nutr. 37, 862.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garn, S. M., Lavelle, M., Rosenberg, K. R. & Hawthorne, V. M. (1986) Maturational timing as a factor in female fatness and obesity. Am J. clin. Nutr. 43, 879.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Graham, C. A. & McGrew, W. C. (1980) Menstrual synchrony in female undergraduates living on a coeducational campus. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 9, 21.Google Scholar
Harlow, S. D. & Linet, M. S. (1989) Argument between questionnaire data and medical records: the evidence for accuracy of recall. Am. J. Epidemiol. 129, 233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hediger, M. L. & Katz, S. H. (1986) Fat patterning, overweight and adrenal androgen interactions in black adolescent females. Hum. Biol. 58, 585.Google ScholarPubMed
Katz, S. H., Hediger, M. L., Zemel, B. S. & Parks, J. S. (1986) Blood pressure, body fat and dehydroepiandrostendione sulfate variation in adolescence. Hypertension, 8, 277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirchengast, S. (1993a) Anthropometric-hormonal correlation patterns in Austrian women. Ann. hum. Biol. 20, 47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirchengast, S. (1993b) Body shape and sex hormone levels in fertile and postmenopausal women from Eastern Austria. Homo, 44, 165.Google Scholar
Kirschner, M. A., Schneider, G., Ertel, N. H. & Worton, E. (1982) Obesity, androgens, estrogens and cancer risk. Cancer Res. 42, 3281.Google ScholarPubMed
Klinga, K., von Holst, T., Runnebaum, B. (1982) Serum concentrations of FSH, estradiol, estrone and androstendione in normal and obese women. Maturitas, 4, 9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knussmann, R. (1988) Somatometrie. In: Anthropologie, Vol. 1/1, pp. 232–285. Edited by Knussmann, R.. Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Kuhlmann, D. & Straub, H. (1986) Einführung in die Endokrinologie. Wiss. Buchgesellschaft, DarmstadtGoogle Scholar
Little, B. B., Guzick, D. S., Malina, R. M. & Rocha Ferreira, M. D. (1989) Environmental influences cause menstrual synchrony, not pheromones. Am. J. hum. Biol. 1, 53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Longscope, C. (1979) Androgen estrogen conversion ratios in aging women. Maturitas, 2, 13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Madrigal, L. (1991) The reliability of recalled estimates of menarcheal age in a sample of older women. Am. J. hum. Biol. 3, 105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ness, R. (1991) Adiposity and age at menarche in Hispanic women. Am. J. hum. Biol. 3, 41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nimrod, A. & Ryan, K. J. (1974) Aromatization of androgens by human abdominal and breast fat tissue. J. clin. Endocr. Metab. 40, 367.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poortman, J., Thjissen, J. H. H. & De Waard, F. (1981) Plasma oestrone, oestradiol and androstendione levels in postmenopausal women: relation to body weight and height. Maturitas, 3, 65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raschka, C. (1991) Bezüge zwischen konstitutionellen, anthropometrischen KenngröBen und individuellen Hormonspiegeln bei Ausdauersportlern—Morphoendokrinologische Korrelationen. Wiss. Z. Humb. Univ. 40, 132.Google Scholar
Sherman, B., Wallace, R., Bean, J. & Schlabaugh, L. (1981) Relationship of body weight to menarcheal and menopausal age: implications for breast cancer risk. J. clin. Endocr. Metab. 52, 488.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vigersky, R. A., Loriaux, D. L., Anderson, A. E., Mecklenberg, A. S. & Vaitukaitis, J. (1976) Delayed pituitary hormone response to LRF and TRH in patients with anorexia nervosa and with secondary amenorrhea associated with simple weight loss. J. clin. Endocr. Metab. 43, 893.CrossRefGoogle Scholar