title: Precocious puberty.
abstract: The term precocious puberty encompasses a group of heterogeneous conditions that range from variants of normal to slowly progressive and rapidly progressive maturation of both sexes. It is defined as the appearance of secondary sex characteristics before the age of 8 in girls and 9 in boys. The clinician who is evaluating a child with precocious puberty should be aware of the normal events of puberty, the ages at which pubertal milestones are achieved and the tempo of pubertal progression. The mechanisms involved in the onset and progression of normal puberty are briefly discussed in this article. The diverse etiology of precocious puberty, the diagnostic evaluation of the patient including clinical, laboratory and radiological investigation as well as problems associated with precocious puberty and indications for treatment and treatment modalities are further discussed in the article.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, "P. and A. Kyriakou" Children's Hospital, Athens, Greece. roulipapathanasiou@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Asteroula
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Papathanasiou
authors.forename: Charalambos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hadjiathanasiou
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001827:Body Height; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D020847:Estrogen Receptor Modulators / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D007987:Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone / Q000819:agonists / Q000502:physiology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D020738:Leptin / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D011629:Puberty, Precocious / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D051381:Rats; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D020847:Estrogen Receptor Modulators; D020738:Leptin; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled; D007987:Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone