title: [Puberty development of the healthy adolescent girls of Daqing city, Heilongjiang province].
abstract: 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.
authors: Department of Endocrinology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
authors: Hui-juan
authors: HJ
authors: Zhu
authors: Jie-ying
authors: JY
authors: Deng
authors: Yi-fan
authors: YF
authors: Shi
authors: Ya-yun
authors: YY
authors: Jiang
authors: Shuang-yu
authors: SY
authors: Lu
authors: Qin-yong
authors: QY
authors: Wu
authors: Dian-xi
authors: DX
authors: Zhang
authors: Shu-wen
authors: SW
authors: Qin
authors: Jing-ling
authors: JL
authors: Zhang
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D004958:Estradiol; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone; D005640:Follicle Stimulating Hormone