Abstract
Background: Premature adrenarche (PA) is often associated with bone age (BA) advanced by ≥2 years, which increases the concern for underlying pathology, but the frequency and clinical significance of this is unknown. Our objective was to identify the proportion of PA patients with very advanced BA and normal BA and compare the clinical characteristics of the two groups.
Methods: Charts of 427 patients aged 5–9 years, referred for early puberty over a 2-year period, were reviewed for clinical diagnosis, growth, parental heights, hormone levels and BA. We divided the PA patients into three separate groups based on degree of BA advancement. Predicted adult heights (PAH) were calculated and compared to mid-parental target height (TH).
Results: Of 427 patients, 266 (62%) had PA (82% female). Of the 121 with BA, 30.6% had very advanced BA (≥2 years) and this group was taller (Ht SD+1.72 vs. +0.72, p<0.00001) and had higher BMI (SD+1.70 vs. +0.99, p<0.001) than patients with BA advanced by <1 year, but hormone levels were quite similar. Mean PAH was slightly less than TH for patients with very advanced BA, but there were no girls with PAH <60 inches 152.4 cm or boys with PAH <65 inches 165.1 cm in height.
Conclusions: Very advanced BA is common in PA, and patients were significantly taller and more overweight than their peers. The impact of advanced BA on PAH appears to be minor. We question the need for ordering a BA in patients with PA, and suggest that extensive testing is unnecessary simply because of advanced BA.
©2013 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Masthead
- Masthead
- Editorial
- Premature adrenarche: not always benign?
- Review Article
- From fat cell biology to public health preventive strategies – pinpointing the critical period for obesity prevention
- Images in Pediatric Endocrinology
- Pituitary macroadenoma due to hypothyroidism
- Parathyroid adenoma presented with multiple brown tumors and nephrocalcinosis
- Original Articles
- In children with premature adrenarche, bone age advancement by 2 or more years is common and generally benign
- Accelerated early pubertal progression, ovarian morphology, and ovarian function in prospectively followed low birth weight (LBW) girls
- Long-term secular trend of skeletal maturation of Taiwanese children between agricultural (1960s) and contemporary (after 2000s) generations using the Tanner-Whitehouse 3 (TW3) method
- Influence of developmental and hormonal factors on bone health in adolescent females: a cross-sectional study and review of the literature
- Predicting growth response among Egyptian prepubertal idiopathic isolated growth hormone deficient children
- Egyptian growth hormone deficient patients: demographic, auxological characterization and response to growth hormone therapy
- Improved metabolic and cardiorespiratory fitness during a recreational training program in obese children
- Mitochondrial uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) gene polymorphisms are associated with childhood obesity and related metabolic disorders
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- Cognitive and developmental outcome of conservatively treated children with congenital hyperinsulinism
- Protective mechanisms against oxidative stress and angiopathy in young patients with diabetes type 1 (DM1)
- Glucose metabolism in obese and lean adolescents with polycystic ovary syndrome
- Morbidity characteristics of patients with congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA)
- Age-related reference values for plasma amino acids in a Spanish population measured by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
- Bupropion can close KATP channel and induce insulin secretion
- Children at risk of diabetes type 1. Treatment with acetyl-L-carnitine plus nicotinamide – Case reports
- Patient Reports
- A boy with prepubertal gynecomastia, hyperprolactinemia, and hypothyroidism
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- First seizure as late presentation of velo-cardio-facial syndrome
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