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PROS Secondary Sexual Characteristics Study

Earlier Onset of Puberty in Girls: Relation to
Increased Body-Mass Index and Race

PROS Pearls:

* Reexamination of data from a 1997 PROS study on the emergence of puberty in young girls indicates that increased body-mass index (BMI), a measure of adiposity or fatness, is one factor associated with the earlier onset of puberty in girls - particularly in white girls. This applies not only to early breast development, but also to the early appearance of pubic hair which hormonally is a distinct event.

* In addition, it appears that factors other than increased BMI - perhaps genetic and/or environmental ones - are needed to explain the higher prevalence of early puberty in black versus white girls.

* Because the study did not include sufficient numbers of Hispanics or members of other ethnic groups, clinicians should exercise great caution before extrapolating these conclusions to other ethnic groups.

 

The PROS Secondary Sexual Characteristics Study was funded by Genentech Inc. The study was conducted between July 1992 and September 1993 in 65 PROS practices. Subjects included girls 3 through 12 years of age who were being seen for a health supervision visit or for a problem that would require a complete physical examination. Data from 17,077 girls were analyzed in the study. The first study manuscript was published in the April 1997 issue of Pediatrics. The citation and link to the manuscript follows below:

Herman-Giddens ME, Slora EJ, Wasserman RC, Bourdony CJ, Bhapkar MV, Koch GG, Hasemeier CM. 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.

The second study manuscript was published in the August 2001 issue of Pediatrics. The citation for the manuscript follows below:

Kaplowitz PB, Slora EJ, Wasserman RC, Pedlow SE, Herman-Giddens ME. Earlier Onset of Puberty in Girls: Relation to increased body mass index and race. Pediatrics 2001; 108: 347-353.




Core support for the PROS network is provided by a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration Maternal and Child Health Bureau

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