Female precocious puberty, obesity and polycystic-like ovaries.

Objective To evaluate the characteristics of obese girls with gonadotropin releasing hormone-dependent precocious puberty with and without polycystic-like ovaries. Methods Forty-seven overweight (>75^th centile of the Italian reference data) girls with a diagnosis of isosexual precocious puberty underwent auxological analysis, hormonal assay and utero-ovarian sonographic and Doppler evaluation. On the basis of sonography the patients were subdivided into two groups, girls presenting normal ovaries (Group I; n = 31) and those with polycystic-like ovaries (Group II; n = 16). Results The mean body weight was significantly higher (P = 0.003) in Group II than it was in Group I. In addition, the patients with polycystic-like ovaries fell within our definition of superobese (≥97^th centile of the Italian reference data) in 44% of cases. The uterine and ovarian volumes were significantly greater in Group II compared with Group I patients. The Doppler evaluation showed intraparenchymal ovarian vascularization and low down-stream impedance to flow in all patients in Group II. Conclusions Girls with precocious puberty and polycystic ovaries, compared with those without polycystic ovaries, have a higher incidence of body weight exceeding the 85^th centile of the Italian reference data (obesity). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]