Szekessy Vilmos (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 55. (Budapest 1963)

Bottyán, O., Dezső, Gy. , Eiben, O. , Farkas, Gy. , Rajkai, T. , Thoma, A.; Véli, Gy.: Age at menarche in Hungarian girls

age at menarche in hungarian girls 571 The Hungarian median of 13 1/4 years — though it was not obtained by a representative sampling — is a characterizing value of great probability, because a change in the direction of the regression line entailed a shift only in the second decimal. As one of the authors has shown elsewhere (17), the age at menarche has attained this present value through a decrease of about 3 years, which may be traced for a century. The 95% percent confidence limits of our median are 13,13— 13,33 years, taking into account heterogeneity. The real median may thus oscillate altogether in a range of 73 days, probably rather downwards, since the non-weighted mean of the regional medians is m — 13,15 years. Following TANNER and O'KEEFFE (16), we give for comparison — of the few estimates obtained by probit or logit analyses — some foreign medians of the age at menarche: London (1959): 13,1 years, Copenhagen (in the '50s): 13,8 years, Burma (in the '60s): 13,2 years, Cylon (in the '50s): 14,4, Nigeria (1960—1961): 14,1 years, South-African Bantus (in the '60s): 15,1 resp. 15,5 depending on the social status. Summary Between 1959 and 1961 the authors have taken in Hungary 14 regional samples relevant to the age at menarche. On the basis of a total of 7008 schoolgirls the pooled Hungarian median was estimated, by probit analysis, at 13,23^ i

0,021 years, l^he material proved relatively homogeneous; the appreciable difference^ are presumably due to nutritional and genetic factors. References: 1. BACKHAUSZ, R. & NEMESKÉRI, J. : Häufigkeit der ABO-Blutgruppen und des D-Faktors in Ungarn (Z. Morph. Anthr., 51, 1960, p. 103—115). — 2. BARTUCZ

, L. : A magyar ember (Budapest, 1938, pp. 509). — 3. BENNHOLDTTHOMSEN

, C. : Über das Accelerationsproblem (Z. menschl. Vererb. — u. Konstitutionslehre, 31, 1952, p. 619—634). —4. FARKAS, GY

. : Az első vérzés (menarche) ideje Csongrád megyei lányoknál (Anthr. Közi., 6, 1962, in press). — 5. FEKETE, S. & FARKAS, K. : Ä havi vérzés elmélete és klinikuma (Budapest, 1953, pp. 288). 6. FINNEY, D. J. : Probit Analysis (Cambridge, 1952, pp. 226). —7. KOCH

, B. 1900, quoted by SCHWIDETZKY

, L: Selektionstheorie und Rassenbildung beim Menschen (Experientia, 55, 1952, p. 85—98). —- 8. KRALJ-ÖERCEK, L. : The influence of food, body build and social origin on the age at menarche (Human Biol., 23, 1956, p. 393—406). — 9. LECOMTE DE NOÜY

: Le temps et la vie (Paris, 1936, pp. 268). — 10. MALÁN, M. : Zur Augen und Haarfarbe der Ungarn (Verhdl. d. ges f. Phvs. Anthr., !>, 1938, p. 99—105). — 11. MALÁN

, M. : Az irispigmentáció különböző foka egyes falvakban (Ann. Biol. Univ. Hung., I, 1951, p. 261—275). — 12. MICHELSON, N. : Studies in the physical development of Negroes (Am. J. Phvs. Anthr., s. n. 2, 1944, p. 151—166). — 13. SKERLJ, B. : Le début de la menstruation et la pigmentation (Anthropologie, 5, 1927, p. 267—270). — 14. SKERLJ

, B. : Menarche und Klima in Europa (Z. Ethnol., 63, 1932, p. 413—414). — 15. TANNER, J. M. : Growth at Adolescence (Oxford, 1955, pp. Nil + 212). — 16. TANNER, J. M. «Sc O'KEEFFE, B. : Age at Menarche in Nigerian School Girls (Human Biol., 34, 1962, p. 187-—196). — 17. THOMA, A.: Age at menarche, acceleration and heritability (Acta Biol. Acad. Sei. Hung. II, 1960, p. 241—254). — 18. VÉLI, GY. : Ujabb tanulmány a tanuló ifjúság testi fejlődéséről (Biol. Közi., 3, 1956, p. 97— 113).