Selected Aspects Of Health Status In Rural And Urban Young Slovak Women

The menarche is a milestone in a woman’s life, when she enters her fertility period, the period when she can lay the foundations of a new life. However, many researchers are concerned with the impact of regular and intensive sport performance on menarcheal age as research has found that age at menarche is statistically significantly related to BMI, and a relationship between overweight (BMI 25 kg /m2) and earlier onset of menarche has been identified. This study presents the results based on data obtained from a sample of 411 young Slovak female students aged 18.80 ± 1.87 years. We assessed the age at menarche in the current Slovak population in relation to their place of residence (urban or rural), and the amount of their sport activity before menarche. The mean menarcheal age of girls who performed intensive sport activities before menarche was 13.296 ± 0.87 years (urban girls 13.359 ± 0.75, rural girls 13.227 ± 0.99). The mean menarcheal age of girls who did not do sports on a regular basis was 12.792 ± 0.81 years (urban girls 12.818 ± 0.84, rural girls 12.774 ± 0.79). The analysis proved that the age at menarche to be significantly affected by sport activities. No significant differences were recorded between urban and rural girls as far as the smoking habit is concerned.Our results confirm that the factor of intensive sport performance has a statistically significant impact on age at menarche, and performing regular intensive sport activities delays the onset of menarche.