title: Puberty and pubertal growth in healthy Turkish girls: no evidence for secular trend.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Assessment of pubertal stages should be related to updated and reliable referance data from the same background population.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to provide normative data for the onset and tempo of puberty in Turkish girls and analyze the growth parameters in puberty.
  
  
  METHODS
  The analyses are based on data that were collected and evaluated biannually on 1020 Turkish school children aged 8-18 years and a subsample of 101 girls who had reached final height (FH). The data were analyzed cross-sectionally in the total group and longitudinally in the subsample.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean age and height (Ht) at onset of puberty were 10.1 ± 1.0 years and 141.7 ± 7.6 cm, respectively. Peak height velocity (HtV) was 8.5 ± 1.0 cm/year. Total pubertal height gain was 16.0 ± 3.9 cm. The duration of puberty was 4.9 ± 1.2 years. Age at menarche was 12.2 ± 0.9 years. Height at onset of puberty was positively correlated with FH (p < 0.0001). Body size (weight and height) at onset of puberty and weight and height velocity before the year of onset of puberty correlated negatively with age at onset of puberty (p < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In conclusion, these results provide normative data for pubertal stages and growth parameters in girls in puberty. Height at onset of puberty is the most important determinant of FH. There is no secular trend for the onset of puberty. Weight does seem to affect the onset of puberty but not FH.
authors.affiliation: Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Pediatric Endocrinology Unit, İstanbul, Turkey. bruveyde@istanbul.edu.tr
authors.forename: Rüveyde
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bundak
authors.forename: Feyza
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Darendeliler
authors.forename: Hülya
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Günöz
authors.forename: Firdevs
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Baş
authors.forename: Nurçin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Saka
authors.forename: Olcay
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Neyzi
mesh_terms: D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011627:Puberty / Q000502:physiology*; D014421:Turkey