epidemiology of precocious puberty
Last edited 01/2020
Epidemiology
- US observational data
- shows that at age 7, 10% of white girls and 23% of black girls have started puberty (1)
- European data
- approximately 5% of girls are thought to begin breast development before age 8 (2)
- a registry based Danish study using ICD-10 diagnoses estimated prevalence of precocious puberty at 0.2% for girls and <0.05% of boys (3)
Reference:
- Biro FM, Galvez MP, Greenspan LC, etal. Pubertal assessment method and baseline characteristics in a mixed longitudinal study of girls. Pediatrics 2010;126:e583-90.
- Sørensen K, Mouritsen A, Aksglaede L, Hagen CP, Mogensen SS, Juul A. Recent secular trends in pubertal timing: implications for evaluation and diagnosis of precocious puberty. Horm Res Paediatr 2012;77:137-45.
- Teilmann G, Pedersen CB, Jensen TK, Skakkebaek NE, Juul A. Prevalence and incidence of precocious pubertal development in Denmark: an epidemiologic study based on national registries. Pediatrics 2005;116:1323-8