title: Higher body fat and lower fat-free mass in girls with premature adrenarche.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Idiopathic premature adrenarche (PA) refers to presence of androgenic signs before the age of eight years in girls in the absence of thelarche. In children with PA, increased adrenal androgens lead to changes in body composition and transient growth acceleration. Although the association between PA and some components of the metabolic syndrome is well known, body composition has not been extensively studied in these patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined 47 girls with PA with a median age of 7.39 years and 57 healthy controls with a median age of 7.11 years. For PA group, the inclusion criteria were appearance of pubic/axillary hair before 8 years of age, absence of findings of central puberty and absence of use of any medication. Patients with steroidogenic enzyme defects and virilizing tumors were excluded. Height, body weight, waist and hip circumference were measured. The bioelectrical impedance method was used for body composition analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the PA group, both body weight standard deviation score (SDS) and height SDS were significantly higher than in the controls (p<0.001 for both). While total body fat percentage values were significantly higher in the PA group than in the controls (median 22.8% vs. 19.95%, p=0.049), fat-free mass (FFM) and total muscle mass percentages were significantly lower than in the controls (median 76.8% vs. 79.9%, p=0.024 and 72.6% vs. 75.7%, p=0.018, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings revealed that girls with PA have higher body weight and height for age values. They also show significant changes in body composition such as an increase in total body fat percentage with a concomitant decrease in the percentages of FFM, muscle mass and total body water.
authors: Derince Training and Research Hospital, Clinic of Pediatric Endocrinology, Kocaeli, Turkey. E-mail: nurcancebeci@yahoo.com.
authors: Ayşe Nurcan
authors: AN
authors: Cebeci
authors: Ayşegül
authors: A
authors: Taş
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue; D050499:Adrenarche; D017668:Age of Onset; D000886:Anthropometry; D001823:Body Composition; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D011629:Puberty, Precocious / Q000503:physiopathology*