Etiologies of precocious puberty: 15-year experience in a tertiary hospital in southern Thailand.

Background: Precocious puberty (PP) is defined as the appearance of secondary sex characteristic at an age <8 years in girls and <9 years in boys, or menarche <9 years in girls.
Objective: To determine the etiologies and clinical characteristics of children presenting with PP.
Subjects and Method: The medical records of 307 children (292 girls, 15 boys) with PP (1995-2009) were reviewed.
Results: The most common etiology of PP in girls was premature thelarche (35.5%), followed by early puberty (25.4%) and central precocious puberty (23.8%). All boys had underlying pathologic etiologies. The average age of girls with premature thelarche was significantly younger than those with any other etiologies (2.8 +/- 1.6 vs 6.7 +/- 1.7 years, p <0.001). Height and weight SDSs of girls with central precocious puberty and early puberty were significantly greater than those with premature thelarche.
Conclusions: The most common etiologies of PP in girls are premature thelarche in girls <6 years and early puberty in girls >6 years. PP in boys has to be investigated for underlying etiologies.