Estimating the median age at menarche with a Logit model: Application to African DHS surveys

Authors

  • Michel Garenne University of the Witwatersrand

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11564/34-1-1506

Keywords:

Age at menarche, Logit model, Socio-economic correlates, DHS surveys, Sub-Saharan Africa.

Abstract

Background: The study investigates the median age at menarche in African countries.Data Source and Methods: DHS surveys provided information on the proportion ever-menstruating among women age 15-19. A linear-logistic regression model was used to derive the median age at menarche (statu quo method). Some 139 DHS surveys were analysed, for a total of 304,826 women. Results: Results show a wide range of variations of the median age at menarche among the 35 countries investigated, from 13.1 to 15.2 years.Conclusion: Country variations were correlated with various variables indicating the level of development (Income per capita; Caloric intake; Urbanization; Child mortality; Fertility; Age at marriage). Two variables were particularly important: food intake and urbanization.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Michel Garenne, University of the Witwatersrand

MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit, School of Public ealth, Faculty of Health Sciences

Downloads

Published

2020-08-20

Issue

Vol. 34 No. 1 (2020)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright on articles is owned by the Journal. All articles published in APS can be re-used under the following CC license: CC BY-SA-4.0  (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).

 

Droits d’auteur et conditions de licence

Le droit d’auteur sur les articles appartient au Journal. Tous les articles publiés dans l’EPA peuvent être réutilisés suivant les conditions de licence de CC license: CC BY-SA-4.0  (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).