Over a 25-year period we examined the anthropological characteristics of mothers and their partners, such as the place of living: urban vs. rural, the degree of education, parity, the time of menarche, and the frequency of intentional abortions. We examined 2 414 mothers and their partners in four periods of time extending from 1985 to 2009 in order to establish changes in the said anthropological characteristics over a period of 25 years. The degree of education of mothers and their partners is on the rise. In the period from 1985 to 1994, the percentage of mothers from the country was on the rise. Women with less education have on average more children, and those with better education the least children. Women from rural areas have on average more children than women from urban areas. The time of menarche dropped by 9 months over the period of 25 years. Girls from urban areas have their first menstrual cycle earlier. Women with higher professional qualifications had their first period earlier. The number of intentional abortions over the 25-year period dropped

Ante Vuković

Hrvojka Soljačić Vraneš

Igor Filipčić

Krunoslav Kuna

Vesna Gall

Zdenko Kraljević

Zoran Vraneš

English

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863H. Soljačić Vraneš: Secular Changes in Perinatal Population, Coll. Antropol. 39 (2015) 4: 863–867In parallel with the growth of man in height and mass, changes were also detected in the onset of menarche (a girl’s first menstrual cycle), and it seems that in developed coun-tries the menarche, and the resulting sexual maturity set in earlier4. Differences in terms of race were also observed, and in America it was established that in a 30-year period (from 1960 to 1990) the average age when white girls have their first period dropped by around 3 months, where in black girls it dropped by around 5.5 months5.Certain changes in anthropological characteristics are to be expected as the result of growing standards, observ-able in Croatia all the time, especially in the period after the war (this study includes a group from the war years, 1992–1994), just like in the developed world. It had to be established whether the changes, if any, relate only to height, weight, BMI, weight gain during pregnancy, life-style (marital status, education, place of living).Over a 25-year period, the anthropological characteris-tics of new mothers and their partners were examined, such as the place of living, degree of education, parity, time IntroductionGrowing industrial development and standards, and new dietary (nutritional) habits, sports and computerisa-tion resulted in certain documented changes in the human physique, such as positive growth changes in height and weight.Unfortunately, as certain advantages (such as the im-provement of dietary, residential and health-related condi-tions) are still not equally present throughout the world, a higher growth in height was observed in developed coun-tries1–3. Maybe not as pronounced, but still significant dif-ferences can also be observed in view of different socioeco-nomic circumstances. Better quality nutrition in families with higher income may lead to better physical development.Development of sexual and reproductive maturity, that is, puberty, is affected by some secular changes, as well. The onset of puberty is affected by genetics, but also cer-tain psychological factors and living conditions (the cli-mate, diet, health).Coll. Antropol. 39 (2015) 4: 863–867Original Scientific PaperSecular Changes in Education, Urban-rural  Living, Menarche and Abortion Rates in Perinatal PopulationHrvojka Soljačić Vraneš1, Zdenko Kraljević1, Zoran Vraneš2, Vesna Gall1, Ante Vuković1, Krunoslav Kuna1 and Igor Filipčić31 University of Zagreb, »Sestre milosrdnice« University Hospital Center, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Zagreb, Croatia2 Croatian Institute for Health Insurance, Zagreb, Croatia3 University of Zagreb, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, Department of Psychiatry, Zagreb, CroatiaA B S T R A C TOver a 25-year period we examined the anthropological characteristics of mothers and their partners, such as the place of living: urban vs. rural, the degree of education, parity, the time of menarche, and the frequency of intentional abortions. We examined 2 414 mothers and their partners in four periods of time extending from 1985 to 2009 in order to establish changes in the said anthropological characteristics over a period of 25 years. The degree of education of mothers and their partners is on the rise. In the period from 1985 to 1994, the percentage of mothers from the country was on the rise. Women with less education have on average more children, and those with better education the least children. Women from rural areas have on average more children than women from urban areas. The time of menarche dropped by 9 months over the period of 25 years. Girls from urban areas have their first menstrual cycle earlier. Women with higher profes-sional qualifications had their first period earlier. The number of intentional abortions over the 25-year period dropped.Key words: secular changes, education, urban vs. rural living, menarche, abortion rateReceived for publication November 10, 2013864H. Soljačić Vraneš: Secular Changes in Perinatal Population, Coll. Antropol. 39 (2015) 4: 863–867of menarche, and the frequency of intentional abortions in the population. The education of fathers was examined, and the age difference between mothers and fathers. The anthropological characteristics were examined with the aim of comparing the characteristics in practically two generations, and to establish whether there are statisti-cally significant differences in particular anthropological characteristics over the reporting period. Interaction be-tween certain factors was also examined with a view to establishing reasons for a higher incidence of certain fac-tors in particular groups. Statistical methods were used to establish whether there is a significance of certain chang-es over time, that is, in the interaction of individual factors.Materials and MethodsThis study included 2 414 mothers and their partners. The women included in the study had given birth in the »Sestre Milosrdnice« University Hospital Centre in the past 25 years.The pregnant women were distributed into four groups in view of the study periods: the period including 550 women who gave birth in the period from 1985 to 1986, the period from 1992 to 1994, which included 564 women, the period with 570 mothers from 2000 to 2002, and 730 women in the period from 2007 to 2009. The study was randomised, that is, the data were collected by randomly collecting the medical histories of healthy mothers with single pregnancies. The mothers were classified according to the place of living, that is, urban vs. rural settings. In view of their education, the mothers and their partners were divided into three groups, that is, those with post-secondary school and university qualifications, secondary school qualifications and low professional qualifications. Depending on the number of their previous successful pregnancies, their parity was also established. They were asked about the onset of their first period, and the number of artificial abortions, if any.Statistical methods – a description of the statisti-cal processing of the resultsIn terms of the statistical processing of the results, to test the significance of differences between several groups of results, a nonparametric chi-square test was used when the results were expressed in frequencies. In the case of testing the significance of differences between the arith-metic means of several groups of results, we used the para-metric test of one-way or two-way analysis of variance. After the analysis of variance, we made further post hoc tests, such as Tukey’s HSD and Scheffe’s tests to establish between which groups of results there is a significant dif-ference.ResultsThe percentage of mothers having secondary school qualifications did not change during the periods in ques-Fig.1. Education of mothers in terms of the periods of research.Fig. 2. Average number of children in terms of the professional qualifications of their mothers and in terms of the period of research.tion, but there was a significant drop in the percentage of mothers with low professional qualifications, and a rise in the percentage of mothers having university qualifications (Figure1).The percentage of mothers from rural areas rose sig-nificantly in the period from 1985–1986 to 1992–1994, and afterwards it did not change.Although the chi-square is significant, additional anal-yses showed that the percentage of first-time, second-time and third-time mothers and those having had multiple births does not differ significantly in terms of the different periods of research.Women with lower professional qualifications on aver-age have more children, and that is most pronounced for the period 2000–2002 (Figure 2).Women with higher professional qualifications have fewer children. In the group of women with post-secondary 865H. Soljačić Vraneš: Secular Changes in Perinatal Population, Coll. Antropol. 39 (2015) 4: 863–867school and university qualifications the share of first-time mothers is 51%, second-time mothers 39%, and those giv-ing birth for a third time or more 10%. The share of wom-en having secondary school qualifications birthing for the first time is 50%, the second time 39%, and the third time 11%. In terms of women with low professional qualifica-tions, the share of first-time mothers is 44%, second-time mothers 44%, and third-time mothers and those having had multiple pregnancies 21%.Women who live in the country have on average sig-nificantly more children (Figure3).The age of the first menstrual cycle differs significant-ly in terms of the periods examined, that is, the age of menarche dropped by 9 months in the period 2007–2009 in comparison to the period 1985–1986 (Figure 4).There is a significant difference in the time of men-arche in view of the place of living and in view of the pe-riod of research, so that on average women who live in urban areas get their first period 2 to 3 months earlier, and women who gave birth in the period from 2007–2009 got their first period 9 to 10 months earlier than women who gave birth in the period from 1985 to 1986 (Figure 5).Women with higher professional qualifications who gave birth in a later period got their first period signifi-cantly earlier (Figure 6).The number of artificial abortions dropped signifi-cantly. The number of artificial abortions does not differ significantly between the periods 1985–1986 and 1992–1994, but it dropped significantly in the later periods (Figure 7).The percentage of fathers with secondary school qual-ifications did not change over the periods concerned, but there was a significant drop in the percentage of fathers with low professional qualifications, and an increase in fathers with university qualifications.Fig. 3. Average number of children in terms of the place of living of the mother and in terms of the period of research.Fig. 4. Age of menarche in terms of different periods.Fig. 5. Time of menarche in terms of the place of living of the mother and in terms of the period of research.Fig. 6. Time of menarche in terms of the degree of education of the mother and in terms of the period of research.866H. Soljačić Vraneš: Secular Changes in Perinatal Population, Coll. Antropol. 39 (2015) 4: 863–867DiscussionOver the past decades, greater height and weight of women in Croatia were noted3.In terms of education, an excellent trend amongst Croa-tian women was recorded in his study, leading to a statisti-cally significant rise in the percentage of women with post-secondary school and university qualifications, and a drop in the percentage of those with low professional qualifica-tions during the periods examined. The percentage of moth-ers having secondary school qualifications did not change significantly over time. Similar trends of the progression of education were also noted in developed countries6.The percentage of mothers living in the country grew around Zagreb during the war, which might be explained by the arrival of refugees and displaced persons from other parts of Croatia. In the world there is mostly an increase in the share of urban population7,8.Over the 25-year period of study, the share of women giving birth for the first, second, third time or those hav-ing had multiple pregnancies did not change significantly, although there was a noted trend of increase in the share of first-time mothers, which might indicate the trend of smaller families, that is, fewer children per family. The trend of smaller families and fewer children is also noted elsewhere in the developed world9. Such changes are prob-ably related to the modern way of life where parents most-ly live alone with their children, where mothers mostly have jobs, and also have to take care of the family. Having more children is in a way becoming complicated, because of further care for the children.In our study there was a statistically significant differ-ence in the number of children in terms of professional qualifications. Women with low professional qualifications on average have more children than those with high pro-fessional qualifications. It is well-noted in published works that women with more education tend to delay motherhood and to have fewer and fewer children10.The reasons on the one hand are the delay of mother-hood and during such time the potential development of certain diseases that affect fertility, and on the other the growingly frequent lack of desire in the developed world to have children. In the past, such standpoints were prac-tically unimaginable, because one of the primary duties of a woman was to give birth, while now the interests of women are aimed, particularly in the group of better edu-cated women, at growingly challenging jobs where chil-dren are only in the way.According to English authors11, women who make the decision not to have children at all are more frequently better educated, well paid at their jobs, live in towns, they get married and divorced more frequently than persons with children, and are usually not religious.Regardless of education, certain authors established that in terms of intelligence, there is no difference in the quotient and the number of children certain people have12.Considering that the number of children is statisti-cally significantly lower in women with better education both across the world and in this study, it is not surprising that first-time mothers are the most prevalent in the group of women with post-secondary school and univer-sity qualifications. In the group of women with low profes-sional qualifications, the share of three-time mothers and mothers having had multiple pregnancies is significantly greater than in women with secondary school and post-secondary school qualifications.Our study showed that women who live in the country on average have statistically significantly more children than those living in urban settings. Such findings are probably the result of the fact that people in the country more frequently live in houses, and not in small flats, and that such households not infrequently include several gen-erations, so that taking care of children is also better dis-tributed and simpler.There is another significant female characteristic that changed over the 25 years of research. There was a statis-tically significantly drop in the time of menarche. Women who were examined in the period 2007–2009 had their first menstrual cycle 9 months before women examined in the period 1985–1986. Other published authors5,13 also noted a similar trend, that is, an ever earlier time of men-arche over the past decades.Women living in rural settings got their first period, on average, 2 to 3 months later than women living in ur-ban settings. The said difference is present in all periods included in our study. Portuguese authors14 published similar observations.There was a statistically significant difference in the time of menarche where mothers having post-secondary school or university qualifications got their first period earlier than those with lower professional qualifications. That might be explained by the fact that women with bet-ter education lived in better socioeconomic circumstances during their childhood, and thus lived in conditions to receive higher education. Certain published authors state that girls who live in better socioeconomic conditions have Fig. 7. The share of mothers having one or more artificial abortions in their medical history in terms of the different periods of research.867H. Soljačić Vraneš: Secular Changes in Perinatal Population, Coll. Antropol. 39 (2015) 4: 863–867their first menstrual cycle earlier than those living in poorer conditions15.Furthermore, based on the mothers’ medical history it can be concluded that there is a statistical significance in the decreasing number of artificial abortions from the pe-riod 1985–1986 to this day. Thanks to easier access to information, informatisation and mass media, general knowledge of the population about sexuality is getting bet-ter and better. Access to gynaecologists and contraception is easy in primary health care, and the methods of contra-ception are getting better, more available and less harm-ful, which results in a decreasing number of unwanted pregnancies. Other published authors also recorded a de-crease in the number of intentional abortions16,17.R E F E R E N C E S1. JURESA V, MUSIL V, TILJAK MK, Coll Antropol, 36 (2012) 47. — 2. TOSELLI S, VENTRELLA AR, FRANZAROLI G, BRASILI P, Coll Antropol, 30 (2006) 65. — 3. SOLJAČIĆ VRANEŠ H, GALL V, JUKIĆ M, VRANEŠ Z, Coll Antropol, 36 (2012) 549. — 4. VEČEK N, VEČEK A, ZAJC PETRANOVIĆ M, TOMAS Z, ARCH-VEČEK B, SKARIĆ-JURIĆ T, MILIČIĆ J, Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol, 160 (2012) 51. — 5. HIMES JH, Mol Cell Endocrinol, 254 (2006) 13. — 6. PIGEYRE M, DAUCHET L, SIMON C, BONGARD V, BINGHAM A, ARVEILER D, RUIDAVETS JB, WAGNER A, FERRIERS J, AMOUYEL P, DAL-LONGVILLE J, Prev Med, 52 (2011) 305. — 7. AIROL E, GETAZ L, STOLL B, CHAPPUIS F, LOUTAN L, Lancet Infect Dis, 11 (2011) 131. — 8. GONG P, LIANG S, CARLTON EJ, JIANG Q, WU J, WANG L, REMAIS JV, Lancet, 379 (2012) 843. — 9. MARITONI GG, FILHO AA, J Pediatr (Rio J), 76 (2000) 55. — 10. FRANCIS HH, IPPF Med Bull, 19 (1985) 3. — 11. INTERNATIONAL PLANNED PARENTHOOD FED-ERATION IPPF. EUROPE REGION, IPPF Eur Reg Inf, (1982) 24. — 12. NYSTROM S, BYGREN LO, VINING DR JR, Scand J Soc Med, 19 (1991) 187. — 13. KHANNA G, KAPOOR S, Coll Antropol, 28 (2004) 571. — 14. PADEZ C, Am J Hum Biol, 15 (2003) 415. — 15. WRONKA I, PAWLIN-SKA-CHMARA R, Ann Hum Biol, 32 (2005) 630. — 16. SALAKOS N, BAKALIANOU K, GREGORIOU O, IAVAZZO C, PALTOGLOU G, CRE-ATSAS G, Clin Exp Obstet Gyecol, 35 (2008) 279. — 17. JONES RK, KOST K, SINGH S, HENSHAW SK, FINER LB, Clin Obstet Gynecol, 52 (2009) 119.H. Soljačić Vraneš  University of Zagreb, »Sestre milosrdnice« University Hospital Center, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Vinogradska 29, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia e-mail: hsoljacicvranes@hotmail.comSEKULARNE PROMJENE U EDUKACIJI, MJESTU STANOVANJA, MENARHI I UČESTALOSTI NAMJERNIH POBAČAJA U PERINATALNOJ POPULACIJIS A Ž E T A KU razdoblju od 25 godina ispitana su antropološka obilježja rodilja i njihovih partnera, kao što su mjesto stanovanja: gradska ili seoska sredina, stupanj naobrazbe, paritet, vrijeme pojavljivanja prve menstruacije, te učestalost namjerno izazvanih pobačaja. Ispitane su 2414 rodilje i njihovi partneri u četiri vremenska perioda od 1985. g. do 2009. g. s ciljem da se ustanove promjene spomenutih antropoloških obilježja kroz četvrtinu stoljeća. Obrazovanje rodilja i njihovih part-nera raste. U periodu od 1985. g. do 1994. g. raste postotak rodilja sa sela. Niže obrazovane žene imaju prosječno više djece, a više obrazovane najmanje. Žene sa sela imaju u prosjeku više djece nego one iz grada. Dob prve menstruacije se u 25 godina smanjila za 9 mjeseci. Menarha se javlja ranije kod gradskih djevojaka. Žene s višom stručnom spremom su imale menarhu ranije. Broj namjerno izazvanih pobačaja je u 25 godina pao.

SECULAR CHANGES IN EDUCATION, URBAN-RURAL LIVING, MENARCHE AND ABORTION RATES IN PERINATAL POPULATION

SECULAR CHANGES IN EDUCATION, URBAN-RURAL LIVING, MENARCHE AND ABORTION RATES IN PERINATAL POPULATION

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