Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Sex abuse linked to early menstrual period

|
|
 
  
Published: May 20, 2009 at 1:11 AM

BOSTON, May 20 (UPI) -- African-American women, younger at their first menstrual periods, were more likely to report a history of childhood sexual abuse, U.S. researchers found.

Researchers at Boston University's Slone Epidemiology Center said that the finding suggests that a history of sexual abuse may increase the risk of early menstrual periods -- before age 12.

The study, published online in the American Journal of Public Health, examined the prevalence of sexual and physical abuse in childhood among more than 35,000 African-American women aged 21-69 years participating in the Black Women's Health Study.

The researchers found that a high proportion of participants reported a history of childhood abuse: 43 percent reported physical abuse and 18 percent reported sexual abuse.

Women who reported a higher frequency of childhood sexual abuse had a higher likelihood of early periods: a 26 percent increased risk of early periods for up to three incidents of sexual abuse and a 34 percent increased risk of early periods for four or more incidents, compared with women reporting no childhood abuse, the study said.

Recommended Stories
© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
High Fashion in Paris 2011: The year in space The best kisses
Additional Health News Stories
1 of 15
Rose McGowan at The Heart Truth's Red Dress Fall 2012 Collections at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week In New York
View Caption
fark
Bus driver rescues students on her elementary school bus after kid's science project goes critical,...
The most amazing portraits created with packing tape you will see all day
According to the United States Census Bureau, when a child is being watched by his father, that's...
You put a guy named Skeeter in charge of your charitable fund, of COURSE he's going to blow your...
Subby, for one, welcomes our new Pennsylvania Purple Squirrel overlords (with purple-pic)
The toughest place to be a train driver