[Puberty development of the healthy adolescent girls of Daqing city, Heilongjiang province].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the process of puberty development of healthy adolescent girls in Northern China.


METHODS
288 adolescent girls of Daqing city, Heilongjiang province, aged 5 to 16, were studied and followed up yearly for four years. The height, weight, fat percentage, second sex characteristics, and the blood levels of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and estradiol (E(2)) were examined.


RESULTS
The mean age of puberty onset of these healthy adolescent girls was 8.5 years +/- 1.1 years. The blood levels of FSH, LH and E(2) were 0.2 mIU/L, 1.1 mIU/L and 0.06 nmol/L respectively (the 95 percentiles were 2.5 mIU/L, 2.3 mIU/L and 0.12 nmol/L respectively). Their mean age of menarche was 12.4 years +/- 1.2 years. The mean age of breast development was 8.8 years +/- 1.1 years.


CONCLUSIONS
The girls in Northern China begin their puberty development at younger ages than reported before.
Zhu
Hui-juan
HJ
Department of Endocrinology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
Deng
Jie-ying
JY
Shi
Yi-fan
YF
Jiang
Ya-yun
YY
Lu
Shuang-yu
SY
Wu
Qin-yong
QY
Zhang
Dian-xi
DX
Qin
Shu-wen
SW
Zhang
Jing-ling
JL
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D004958:Estradiol / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005640:Follicle Stimulating Hormone / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone / Q000097:blood; D008572:Menarche; D011627:Puberty / Q000097:blood; D011629:Puberty, Precocious / Q000453:epidemiology; D012741:Sexual Maturation
D004958:Estradiol; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone; D005640:Follicle Stimulating Hormone