Fifteen-year-old Samantha has just experienced her first menstrual period. Her mother is concerned about her daughter's late menstruation. Based on what you know about pubertal development, how would you respond to her mother?

I would tell her mother not to panic much because young ladies develop at different rates due to certain factors such as diet, genetic factors etc. However delayed puberty can also be caused by certain health conditions which delays the hypothalamus sending signals to start puberty. Such conditions are sickle cell anaemia, hypothyroidism, congenital disease, chronic kidney disease etc. The mother should take her daughter to the hospital to ascertain the cause and make sure the underlying factors aren't serious and life threatening.