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High DHEAS increases early puberty risk in girls
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Girls with high dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate levels had an increased risk for early therlarche and early pubarche, whereas high dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate levels did not affect pubertal development in boys, study data show.
Veronica Mericq, MD, of the School of Medicine, University of Chile, Maternal and Child Research Institute, and colleagues evaluated data from the Growth and Obesity Chilean Cohort Study on 494 boys and 492 girls aged 7 years with available blood samples to determine the risks for precocious thelarche, pubarche and gonadarche in children with high or normal levels of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS). Overall, 26.1% of the participants had high DHEAS. Pubertal stage of at least Tanner II was reached by 99% of the girls and 60% of the boys at follow-up when mean age of the participants was 12 years.
Researchers observed no difference in the incidence of precocious gonadarche or precocious pubarche between boys with high DHEAS and those with normal levels. However, boys with high DHEAS were more likely to have obesity or overweight, greater height and higher insulin-like growth factor I and leptin levels compared with boys with normal DHEAS.
The risk for early thelarche was doubled and the risk for early pubarche was tripled in girls with high DHEAS compared with girls with normal levels. Four girls with early therlarche and high DHEAS also had early pubarche. The risk for early thelarche was significantly increased in both crude and adjusted models in girls with high DHEAS.
“In Chilean adolescents, precocious events of pubertal development were in line with worldwide secular trend of earlier sexual maturation,” the researchers wrote. “[High DHEAS] was only associated with [precocious thelarche] and [precocious pubarche] in females. Continuous follow-up of this cohort is a unique opportunity to prospectively address the interrelationships among [premature adrenarche], early growth, adiposity as determinants of gonadarche, pubertal rate and sequence progression and ovarian function.” – by Amber Cox
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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