Clinical follow-up data and the rate of development of precocious and rapidly progressive puberty in patients with premature thelarche.

BACKGROUND

We aimed to evaluate the clinical follow-up data of patients with premature thelarche and determine the rate of development of precocious and early puberty in these patients.

METHODS

The charts of 158 girls with premature thelarche who were followed-up in our pediatric endocrinology polyclinic were reviewed. The patients were divided into three groups according to the age at onset: group 1 (0-1 month) (n=12), group 2 (1-24 months) (n=40) and group 3 (2-8 years) (n=106).

RESULTS

At admission, the mean height standard deviation score (SDS), body weight (BW)-SDS, body mass index (BMI) and BMI-SDS were significantly higher in group 3 than in group 1 and group 2. At admission, 8.8% of the patients were obese and 24% of the patients were overweight. The majority of patients who were obese and overweight were in group 3. At the end of the follow-up, thelarche regressed in 24.7%, persisted in 32.9%, progressed in 25.9% and had a cyclic pattern in 16.5% of the patients. Precocious or rapidly progressive puberty developed in 47 of the 158 patients (29.7%). The mean age at progression to early or rapidly progressive puberty was 98.1±17.6 months. A total of 89.3% of the patients who progressed to early or rapidly progressive puberty were in group 3.

CONCLUSIONS

Precocious or rapidly progressive puberty developed in 29.7% of subjects with premature thelarche. As patients who developed rapidly progressive puberty had a higher BW-SDS and BMI-SDS than those who did not, it is suggested that the increase in weight could stimulate rapidly progressive puberty in cases with premature thelarche.