Precocious Puberty

Precocious puberty is when a child’s body undergoes puberty too early. The definition of precocious puberty in girls is the occurrence of puberty before the age of 8 and before the age of 9 in boys.

Puberty includes the rapid growth of bones and muscles. Hence, a bone age test is done to diagnose precocious puberty. For patients of precocious puberty, the age of the bones is much older than that of the child. For example, the bones could be that of a 11 year old while the child is only 8 years old.

The process of precocious puberty starts with the production of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH). GnRH is responsible for the release of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinising hormone (LH) in the anterior pituitary gland. Consequently, the production of FSH and LH leads to the production of oestrogen and progesterone / testosterone and thus, the onset of puberty.

Precocious puberty can be caused by several different factors. These include the presence of a tumour in the central nervous system or even due to radiation or traumatic injury to the central nervous system. However, for the majority of children, there is no identifiable reason for the early puberty.

The main complication of precocious puberty is short height as an adult. Although children with precocious puberty experience early growth spurts, their bones often age much faster and stop growing before their peers. Hence, these children will stop growing taller earlier and are short.

Precocious puberty is treated with GnRH analogues. These drugs act as a competitive inhibitor of GnRH and reduce the levels of FSH and LH released.

Sources:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/precocious-puberty/symptoms-causes/syc-20351811#:~:text=Precocious%20puberty%20is%20when%20a,it%20is%20considered%20precocious%20puberty.

https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=precocious-puberty-early-puberty-90-P01973

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK547863/

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