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Sexual development in prepubertal obese boys: a 4-year longitudinal study

  • Lingling Zhai EMAIL logo , Jian Zhao , Yinglong Bai , Li Liu , Linlin Zheng , Lihong Jia and Xingjia Yao
Published/Copyright: May 24, 2013
Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism
From the journal Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism Volume 26 Issue 9-10

Abstract

The objective of the study was to evaluate whether or not sexual development differs between boys with prepubertal obesity and boys of normal weight. We enrolled healthy obese and normoweight schoolboys from Shenyang City, Liaoning, China. Eligible boys were at Tanner stage 1 and 8 years of age at baseline. We measured testosterone and estradiol concentrations in the saliva and assessed auxology annually for 4 years. In all 56 obese and 56 normoweight boys, the height, weight, body composition, and sex organ volume increased with age. The percentages of body fat, fat mass, and lean mass were all higher in obese than in normoweight boys. The mean testicular volume was smaller in obese boys than in normoweight boys. The sex hormone concentrations increased with age, except for testosterone in obese boys in year 3 of follow-up. In year 4, estradiol concentrations were significantly higher in obese boys than in normoweight boys. Excessive adiposity in prepubertal boys might affect testicular volume, possibly because of high estradiol and low testosterone concentrations.

Keywords: longitudinal study; obesity; sex hormones; sex organs; testicular volume
Corresponding author: Lingling Zhai, Department of Child and Adolescent Health, College of Public Health, China Medical University, No. 92 Bei’er Street, Hepi District, Shenyang 110001, China, Phone: +86 24-23256666-5542. E-mail:

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no: 30800920,81202227).

Conflict of interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interests.

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Received: 2012-12-10
Accepted: 2013-4-18
Published Online: 2013-05-24
Published in Print: 2013-10-01

©2013 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin Boston

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  44. Letter to the Editors
  45. Homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance may not be reliable to evaluate insulin sensitivity in young obese children
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https://doi.org/10.1515/jpem-2012-0398
Keywords for this article
longitudinal study; obesity; sex hormones; sex organs; testicular volume

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Masthead
  2. Masthead
  3. Review article
  4. Tamoxifen therapy for the management of pubertal gynecomastia: a systematic review
  5. Images in pediatric endocrinology
  6. Solitary median maxillary central incisor, a clinical predictor of hypoplastic anterior pituitary, ectopic neurohypophysis and growth hormone deficiency
  7. A rare case of granuloma annulare in a 6-year-old child with type 1 diabetes
  8. Original articles
  9. The arginine stimulation test: timing of peak is not a helpful parameter in the diagnosis of growth hormone deficiency
  10. The relationship between adiposity and stature in prepubertal children with celiac disease
  11. Influence of micronutrient status and socioeconomic gradient on growth indices of 2–18-year-old Indian girls
  12. Phosphotyrosine phosphatases in GH-stimulated skin fibroblasts from children with idiopathic short stature
  13. The relation between salivary cortisol and the metabolic syndrome score in girls
  14. Association of vitamin D concentrations with adiposity indices among preadolescent children in Korea
  15. Association of serum resistin levels with metabolic syndrome and early atherosclerosis in obese Chinese children
  16. Characteristics of infants at risk of hypoglycaemia secondary to being ‘infant of a diabetic mother’
  17. Parental dyadic coping in families of children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes
  18. Pigmentary hypertrichosis and non-autoimmune insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (PHID) syndrome is associated with severe chronic inflammation and cardiomyopathy, and represents a new monogenic autoinflammatory syndrome
  19. Effect of insulin therapy on IGF-1 level in children with new-onset type 1 diabetes mellitus: a comparison between DKA and non-DKA
  20. Mutation analysis of the SRD5A2, AR and SF-1 genes in 52 Chinese boys with hypospadias
  21. Sexual development in prepubertal obese boys: a 4-year longitudinal study
  22. Genetic diagnosis of one family with incomplete clinical data
  23. Patient reports
  24. Complete androgen insensitivity syndrome and discordant Müllerian remnants: two cases with novel mutation in the androgen receptor
  25. Psychosexual outcomes in three siblings with partial androgen insensitivity syndrome: impact of nature versus nurture
  26. Ambiguous genitalia in a 48, XXYY newborn: a casual relationship or a coincidence?
  27. Gonadal function of beta-thalassemics following stem cell transplantation conditioned with myeloablative and reduced intensity regimens
  28. Significant testicular enlargement in a 6.5-year-old boy with monorchism and testicular microlithiasis
  29. Report of the first case of precocious puberty in Rett syndrome
  30. Type II vitamin D-dependent rickets with diabetic ketoacidosis
  31. Pituitary gigantism presenting with depressive mood disorder and diabetic ketoacidosis in an Asian adolescent
  32. A rare association between Rathke’s cyst and hypophysitis in a patient with delayed sex development and growth failure
  33. Diabetes mellitus with Laron syndrome: case report
  34. Wegener granulomatosis as an uncommon cause of panhypopituitarism in childhood
  35. Rare cases of autoimmune hypothyroidism in young children
  36. Cushing syndrome related to leukemic infiltration of the central nervous system: a case report and a possible role of LIF
  37. Early presentation of bilateral gonadoblastomas in a Denys-Drash syndrome patient: a cautionary tale for prophylactic gonadectomy
  38. Identification of a novel homozygous mutation (S144I) in a Malay patient with maple syrup urine disease
  39. Virilization in two pre-pubertal children exposed to topical androgen
  40. A family with Camurati-Engelman disease. The role of the missense p.R218C mutation in TGFB1 in bones and endocrine glands
  41. Short communications
  42. Plasma ceramides are elevated in female children and adolescents with type 2 diabetes
  43. Assessment of contractility and myocardial function in small and appropriate for gestational age premature neonates using the stress-velocity relationship and tissue Doppler imaging immediately after birth
  44. Letter to the Editors
  45. Homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance may not be reliable to evaluate insulin sensitivity in young obese children
  46. Type 1 diabetes in women with endometriosis: what is the risk of occurrence?
  47. How should we manage vitamin D-deficient adolescents?
  48. Should neonatal hyperparathyroidism associated with mucolipidosis II/III be treated pharmacologically?a
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