What should parents do when they discover their child is going through puberty early?

Updated date: 23/02/2024 10:56:56

Early puberty is becoming a concern for many parents, especially now that puberty is getting younger.

Hormone testing is valuable for predicting precocious puberty

In the past 2 months, the family saw that baby HAL (7 years old) had rapidly developed mammary glands. Too worried about that abnormal sign, the family decided to take baby L. to Medlatec Tay Ho General Clinic for examination and was surprised with the diagnosis of precocious puberty.

Examining baby L., the breast development was equivalent to Tanner grade II, no pubic hair, no armpit hair and no menstruation. Therefore, to make an accurate diagnosis, the doctor ordered the baby to undergo paraclinical methods including X-ray, ultrasound of the uterus and adnexa, and endocrine tests.

Based on the “golden standards”, baby L. was diagnosed with precocious puberty with X-ray results showing bone age equivalent to 8 years old. Endocrine test results showed LH: 0.934 mIU/mL; FSH: 4.82 mIU/mL; Estradiol: 21.75 pg/mL.

Extremely surprised with the diagnosis of precocious puberty, but baby L.'s family feels lucky that their child was examined promptly, diagnosed accurately, and then treated with hormones to slow down the growth rate and puberty rate.

Master, Doctor Ngo Thi Cam - Pediatrics specialist, Medlatec Tay Ho General Clinic, said that puberty is early when children show signs of puberty starting before the age of 9 in boys and before the age of 8 in girls. Boys often show signs of rapid height increase, penis development, pubic hair, armpit hair, deep voice... In girls, early puberty has signs such as breast development, pubic hair, menstruation, acne, and body odor.

For children with early puberty, if detected and treated promptly, it will slow down the process of early puberty, helping parents not only feel secure that their children will develop to their ideal height, but also ensure that they will study like their peers. At the same time, it will reduce psychological pressure in children, limit unpredictable consequences such as early sexual intercourse, increasing the rate of abortion, increasing the risk of polycystic ovary syndrome in adulthood for girls.

According to Dr. Cam, early puberty can be caused by many reasons.

In boys, true (central) precocious puberty can have many causes such as: idiopathic; central nervous system damage: hydrocephalus, encephalitis, brain tumors, neurofibromas, hamartomas, trauma, post-infectious damage, structural abnormalities; other causes: prolonged hypothyroidism.

Pseudo-precocious puberty (peripheral) in boys can be caused by tumors, Leyding cell hyperplasia, androgen excess; in the adrenal glands: Congenital adrenal hyperplasia, adrenal tumors, Cushing's disease, ACTH-producing tumors.

For girls, causes of precocious puberty include: spontaneous central (GnRH-dependent) precocious puberty; central nervous system damage: brain tumors, neurofibromas, hamartomas, traumatic damage, post-infectious damage, structural abnormalities.

Peripheral precocious puberty can be caused by ovarian tumors, ovarian cysts, ovarian primordial virilizing tumors; adrenal tumors, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, Cushing's disease; excessive estrogen use.

In addition, early puberty can be caused by other reasons such as unclear food origin, unscientific lifestyle...

To diagnose precocious puberty, in addition to clinical factors such as changes in height and weight, voice cracking, acne, pubic and armpit hair growth, etc., it is necessary to rely on paraclinical factors, including ultrasound, wrist X-ray, endocrine tests: FSH, LH, Testosterone, Estrogen, etc.; thyroid tests. In addition, in some cases, CT or MRI scans may be indicated.

Doctor Cam recommends that when playing with their children, if they observe unusual signs of early puberty, they should take their children to a reputable medical facility for timely examination and treatment. At the same time, parents should calmly explain these physiological changes to their children to avoid being too shocked and worried about these unusual changes.

According to TRAN LAM (NDO)

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