Incidences of menstrual cycle abnormalities in adolescence, and matches between the age at menarche and the development of menstrual cycle abnormalities.

In this study the clinical data of all girls who visited the ambulance for paediatric and adolescent gynaecology at the university clinic for gynaecology and obstetrics in Vienna between 2001 and 2008 because of menstrual cycle abnormalities were used (n = 255). Most frequently, the girls suffered from dysmenorrhoea (29%), tempoanomaly (24%) and metrorrhagia (19%). For 57%, it was possible to find an underlying cause, mainly (24%) a hormonal one. The therapy was in 54% of all cases hormonal. In a second step, the study analyses matches between the age at menarche and the development of menstrual cycle abnormalities. Girls with primary amenorrhoea were excluded (n = 219). The study shows that every age of menarche has its special kind of menstrual cycle abnormality. Only if the menarche had set in at the age of 16, two kinds were named with equal frequency.