Performance of a new pubertal self-assessment questionnaire: a preliminary study.
We describe the performance of a new, self-assessment questionnaire that aims to measure pubertal status by using gender-specific line drawings of the Tanner puberty stages. The study was carried out on 103 children aged 12-16 years attending a paediatric endocrinology outpatient clinic and used physical examination by clinic doctors as the 'gold standard'. Of 133 consecutive, eligible children, 108 (81%) agreed to participate in the study. Data were collected from 62 (60%) males and 41 (40%) females. Mean age was 14.78 years (SD = 1.26 years, range 12.08-16.98 years). For the pubic hair distribution Tanner stage, there was agreement to within one Tanner stage for 90 children (88%), weighted kappa statistic for inter-rater agreement = 0.68 [95% CI 0.49,0.87]. For the female breast/male genitalia Tanner stage, there was agreement to within one Tanner stage for 75 children (76%), kappa = 0.48 [95% CI 0.31,0.64]. The children tended to underestimate their stage of pubertal development. Overall, the kappa statistics implied good agreement for the pubic hair question and moderate agreement for the breast/genitalia stage question in both girls and boys. The questionnaire may prove useful in situations such as large-scale epidemiological studies, in which direct examination of children to determine pubertal status is not possible, and further validation in normal adolescents is warranted.
Taylor
S J
SJ
Department of General Practice and Primary Care, St Bartholomew's and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary and Westfield College, UK. s.j.c.taylor@mds.qmw.ac.uk
Whincup
P H
PH
Hindmarsh
P C
PC
Lampe
F
F
Odoki
K
K
Cook
D G
DG
D000293:Adolescent; D001828:Body Image; D001940:Breast / Q000254:growth & development; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005836:Genitalia, Female / Q000254:growth & development; D005837:Genitalia, Male / Q000254:growth & development; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011627:Puberty; D012647:Self-Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires