Abstract:The changing trends in the prevalence of childhood obesity, early puberty and menarche, and ethnoracial differences in the effect of BMI on the reproductive characteristics of young females around the world, warrants continuous evaluation. Hence, this study aims to investigate possible variations in the influence of BMI on the age at menarche as well as duration of menstrual cycle and menses in young girls in two urban areas in southern Nigeria. Participants (n = 52; median age = 20 years) were classified into 3 groups: normal, NM (n = 27; BMI = 21.0 ± 2.0 Kg/m 2 ), overweight, OW (n = 14; BMI = 28.1 ± 1.2 Kg/m 2 ) and obese, OB (n = 11; BMI = 31.5 ± 0.6 Kg/m 2 ). BMI was calculated from the equation; BMI = weight, kg/height, m 2 . Cross-sectional data on menarche and menstrual cycle patterns were obtained through selfadministered questionnaires. Data analysis showed a statistically significant difference in the BMI (p< 0.0001). Though the mean(± SD) ages at menarche were similar (NM = 13.0 ± 1.2 years; OW = 12.9 ± 0.9 years; OB = 13.7 ± 0.9 years)(p> 0.05), the average duration of the menstrual cycle (NM = 27.3 ± 1.4 days; OW = 27.9 ± 0.6 days; OB = 29.4 ± 1.4 days) and menstrual bleeding (NM = 4.4 ± 0.6 days; OW = 4.4 ± 0.8 days; OB = 5.4 ± 0.9 days) differed significantly according to the BMI (p< 0.0001 and p< 0.05 respectively). There was an increase in the average length of the menstrual cycle and menses with increased BMI (r = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.28 -0.69, p< 0.0001) and (r = 0.38, 95% CI = 0.12 -0.59, p< 0.05) respectively. However, the correlation between BMI and age at menarche was weak (r = 0.25, 95% CI = -0.02 -0.49, p> 0.05); and the average duration of the menstrual cycle tend to decrease with older menarcheal age, though this was not statistically significant p> 0.05). Girls with higher BMI experience longer menstrual cycle and menses compared to their normal weight counterparts. The effect of BMI on age at menarche and the relationship between early onset of menarche and the duration of menstrual cycles and menses later in life may not be causal. Further investigations may resolve these differences in relation to the reproductive characteristics of young females.

We sought to examine the relationship between BMI, sweat rate (SR) and sweat volume (SV) in pre-, peri-and postmenopausal women during a moderate exercise. Based on their ages and menstrual cycle history, thirty healthy women were divided into three groups: pre-(22.5 ± 0.8 yrs, n = 10), peri-(46.5 ± 1.1 yrs, n = 10) and post-(52.2 ± 0.9 yrs, n = 10). Participants underwent a 15minute walk on a treadmill at a constant speed of 4.2 km/h at 27˚C. Sweat was collected and measured with a suction apparatus around a confined area of 120 cm 2 outlined on the skin of the face and neck of the participants during the exercise. SR and BMI were determined using the formulae: volume of sweat collected exercise time and WT kg HT m 2 , , , respectively. The older women had a significantly higher BMI: pre-, peri-and post-(23.7 ± 1.3 kg/m 2 vs 28.0 ± 1.2 kg/m 2 vs 28.4 ± 0.7) (p < 0.05). Although there was no significant difference in SV (1.3 ± 0.4 ml vs 1.7 ± 0.2 ml vs 0.9 ± 0.1 ml) between the groups, the peri-women showed a significantly higher SR (0.07 ± 0.02 ml/min vs 0.12 ± 0.01 ml/min vs 0.06 ± 0.01 ml/min) (p < 0.05). A significant and positive correlation existed between BMI and SR (p < 0.05); SV (p < 0.01). Our findings support the conclusions that increased menopausal sweating is associated with weight gain/increased BMI especially during the perimenopausal transition period.

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Objective: To investigate the relationship between rate of sweat production and sweat potassium concentration in premenopausal (PreM), perimenopausal (PeriM) and postmenopausal (PostM) women after a moderate exercise.

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