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Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffFactors that increase a child's risk of precocious puberty include:
- Being a girl. Girls are much more likely to develop precocious puberty.
- Being African-American. Precocious puberty affects African-Americans more often than others.
- Being obese. If your child is significantly overweight, he or she has a higher risk of developing precocious puberty.
- Being exposed to sex hormones. Coming in contact with an estrogen or testosterone cream or ointment, or other substances that contain these hormones (such as an adult's medication or dietary supplements), can increase your child's risk of developing precocious puberty.
- Having other medical conditions. Precocious puberty may be a complication of McCune-Albright syndrome or congenital adrenal hyperplasia — conditions that involve abnormal production of the male hormones (androgens). In rare cases, precocious puberty may also be associated with hypothyroidism.
References
- Biro F. Normal puberty. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Oct. 13, 2008.
- Pralong FP. Diagnosis and treatment of delayed puberty. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Oct. 13, 2008.
- Saenger P. Overview of precocious puberty. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Oct. 13, 2008.
- Carel JC, et al. Precocious puberty. New England Journal of Medicine. 2008;358:2366.
- Muir A. Precocious puberty. Pediatrics in Review. 2006;27:373.
- Precocious puberty. The Hormone Foundation. http://www.hormone.org/Resources/Growth/upload/bilingual_precocious_puberty.pdf. Accessed Nov. 24, 2008.
- Styne D. Precocious puberty (sexual precocity). In: Gardner DG, et al. Greenspan's Basic & Clinical Endocrinology. 8th edition. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill; 2007. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2631040&searchStr=precocious+puberty. Accessed Nov. 11, 2008.
