MENARCHEAL AGE IN CENTRAL ITALY

Estimates of menarcheal age in girls in central Italy based on the status quo and recall methods are compared. Results obtained by the two methods differ significantly in that the recall method underestimates age of menarche even though utmost care was used in data collection (province of Rome: status quo 12.44, retrospective 11.84; Molise: status quo 12.51, retrospective 12.12). Positive and negative aspects of the two methods are discussed. (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.