Leona M. Bayer

Weight and menses in adolescent girls, with special reference to build

Summary A series of ninety-two adolescent girls has been studied with regard to certain aspects of weight, menstruation, and build. Data on age of menarche and on the menstrual cycle are essentially similar to comparable data in the literature. Normal menstrual cycles for the group are defined as cycles showing intervals of twenty to forty days with duration of flow of from four to seven days. Definitely abnormal cycles are those with intervals longer than sixty days, flow longer than eleven days. The mean menarcheal age is 13.16 years. Although the whole first year after menarche shows great variability in length of cycle, it is demonstrated that after the first two periods this variability already falls to a fairly uniform level. When the girls are sorted into build groups designated as hypofeminine (Diana), feminine (Venus), hyperfeminine (Rubens), and mixed, both weight and menstrual experience show some relation to build. Although such relations are nowhere clear-cut, it may be noted that: 1. Where weight deviations occur, the tendency is toward under-weight among the hypofeminines, and overweight among the hyperfeminines. Weight is judged by the weight-stature index. 2. The feminines (thirty-three) show contrasts with the others (fiftynine) in regard to certain aspects of menstruation. 3. No effort was made to draw conclusions about the “mixed” group, which included the two cases with “virile” builds. In the feminine group, (a) most of the girls reached their menarche within a very narrow range of the mean of 13.16 years, as against a much wider distribution in the others; (b) only one girl reported an interval longer than sixty days or a period lasting longer than eleven days, as against six reporting such abnormal periods among the others; (c) only one girl reported severe dysmenorrhea, as against five among the others reporting such pain.

Build variations in adolescent girls

Summary A classification of feminine build is described which seeks to sort individuals according to the degree and direction of their secondary sex differentiations. It is based upon a consideration of skeletal proportions and body covering. Two-thirds of a group of normal adolescent girls could be fitted into the categories outlined, namely, hypofeminine (Diana), feminine (Venus), hyperfeminine (Rubens), and virile (Amazon). The classification, therefore, seems to be feasible and should be clinically helpful.

GROWTH HISTORY OF CHILDREN WITH CONGENITAL HEART DEFECTS. I. EFFECT OF OPERATIVE INTERVENTION

This investigation of the growth history of children with operable congenital cardiac defects has used standard anthropometric techniques involving 5 measures, 5 ratios, skeletal age assessments, and photographs. Reported here are the longitudinal observations on the first 274 children examined over various periods before and after surgery. Both the preoperative and samples differ from the norm in that measurements are somewhat smaller and skeletal maturation is somewhat delayed. As the children approach adolescence, they tend to approach closer to the norm. No marked shift in pattern after surgery has thus far been demonstrated, although where differences exist, they are in the direction of larger measures in the postsurgical group of children.

Late results of treated childhood hypothyroidism

Summary 1. The original status and progress of two children with thyroid deficiency, onset approximately at one year and two months, respectively, are presented. They have been followed, under treatment from approximate ages of four to eighteen years, and two to eleven years. 2. Both children had at the beginning the appearance and build characteristic of thyroid deficiency and a significant retardation in height, bony development, and mental development. 3. The most striking similarity in the two records is the complete restitution of osseus development in both children. This finding is in agreement with the results of other authors. Canelo and Lisser and Price record significant advances in bone age under treatment; similarly 9 out of 13 of Nobels patients had normal bone ages at the end of the observation period. 4. Contrasts between the two are: the older girl has developed a nicely proportioned body with quite a delicate face, but she has remained permanently dwarfed, and her intellect has not developed beyond the ten-year six-month level. The younger one, on the other hand, has retained her thick-set build but has compensated completely in height and mentality.