I remember 1997. Early puberty was THE topic of discussion among pediatric and adolescent
gynecologists, adolescent medicine physicians, and pediatric endocrinologists. That
year, Marcia Herman-Giddens published the landmark study entitled “Secondary sexual
characteristics and menses in young girls seen in office practice: a study from the
Pediatric Research in Office Settings network.” The study included the findings that
at age 8, 48.3% of African American girls and 14.7% of white girls had at least 1
sign of pubertal development, earlier than was suggested in standard pediatric textbooks.
[1]
I was fascinated by the findings, as well as by the design of the study itself. The
study enrolled over 17,000 girls ages 3-12 seen by a research network of 225 primary
care clinicians for well-child visits or problem-focused visits that would require
a complete physical examination; a remarkable 99.4% of eligible girls were enrolled
in the study. These clinicians were trained in the assessment of pubertal characteristics
and documented enrollment and Tanner staging. WOW—huge numbers, and findings that
were surprising to some clinicians. As a pediatric and adolescent gynecology (PAG)
clinician, I had many requests from the press to comment on these findings. The New
York Times Health section featured the study with the headline, “Early Puberty Onset
Seems Prevalent.”
[2]
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References
- Secondary sexual characteristics and menses in young girls seen in office practice: a study from the Pediatric Research in Office Settings network.Pediatrics. 1997; 99: 505-512
Gilbert S: Early puberty onset seems prevalent. The New York Times 1997 April 9
- Secondary sexual characteristics and menses in young girls.Pediatrics. 1998; 101: 949-950
Kolata G: Doubters fault theory finding earlier puberty. The New York Times 2001 Feb 20
- Reexamination of the age limit for defining when puberty is precocious in girls in the United States: implications for evaluation and treatment. Drug and Therapeutics and Executive Committees of the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society.Pediatrics. 1999; 104: 936-941
- Areolar and breast staging in adolescent girls.Adolesc Pediatr Gynecol. 1992; 5: 271-272
- Puberty–Whither goest?.J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2006; 19: 163-165
- Pubarche as well as thelarche may be a marker for the onset of puberty.J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2008; 21: 323-328
- Impact of yesterday's genes and today's diet and chemicals on tomorrow's women.J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2009; 22: 3-6
- Puberty in girls of the 21st century.J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2012; 25: 289-294
- Bone density and timing of puberty in a longitudinal study of girls.J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2015; 28: 170-172
- Amphiregulin as a novel serum marker of puberty in girls.J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2017; 30: 535-539
- Age of menarche in a longitudinal US cohort.J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2018; 31: 339-345
- Onset of puberty: mother knows best.J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2020; 33 (IN THIS ISSUE)
- Trends toward earlier puberty timing in girls and its likely mechanisms.J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2022; 35: 527-531
- Adverse effects of early puberty timing in girls and potential solutions.J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2022; 35: 532-535
- Oncofertility perspectives for girls with cancer.J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2022; 35: 523-526
- Fertility in individuals with differences in sex development: provider knowledge assessment.J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2022; 35: 558-561
- Non-obstetric traumatic vulvar hematomas in premenarchal and postmenarchal girls.J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2022; 35: 546-551
- Radiologic imaging does not add value for female pediatric patients with isolated blunt straddle mechanisms.J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2022; 35: 541-545
- The association between childhood adversity and risk of dysmenorrhea, pelvic pain, and dyspareunia in adolescents and young adults: a systematic review.J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2022; 35: 567-574
- Pediatric vulvovaginal graft-versus-host disease: a retrospective cohort study and literature review.J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2022; 35: 551-556
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© 2022 North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
