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Precocious Puberty Panic

MrRING

MrRING

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I saw a local news article talking about a rising percentage of children, both boys and girls, are reaching puberty long before they should.

Medically, this appears to be refered to as precocious puberty. From NORD:
https://rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/precocious-puberty/
Precocious puberty means an abnormally early onset of puberty. A sequence of events occurs during which a child develops into a young adult beginning at an unexpectedly early age. Glands that secrete growth and sex hormones begin to function abnormally early in life resulting in this condition. Often, the exact cause of precocious puberty is not known.

Precocious puberty (PP) is a statistical definition; that is, it is the onset of secondary sexual characteristics in children at an age that is two standard deviations younger than the mean age of pubertal onset. The actual age that defines sexual precocity is therefore dependent on the epidemiological data that one uses to define the average age of pubertal onset. Different populations and different time periods will therefore have differing definitions of PP. Classically, in North America, puberty is considered precocious if it begins before age 8 in girls or age 9 in boys. Recently, most likely because of increasing weight in the population, puberty appears to be having an earlier age of onset.
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An academic article on a specific subset of increase in Italy from 2020:
https://ijponline.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13052-020-00931-3

Increased incidence of precocious and accelerated puberty in females during and after the Italian lockdown for the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic​

The timing of puberty in girls is occurring at an increasingly early age. While a positive family history is recognised as a predisposing factor for early or precocious puberty, the role of environmental factors is not fully understood.
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Various news organizations are covering this instance, such as NPR:
https://www.npr.org/2022/04/03/1090498749/early-onset-puberty-has-increased-since-covid-19
RASCOE: So what have you been seeing at your own clinic?

SPINKS-FRANKLIN: I noticed during the 2020 lockdowns over the summer and fall of 2020 that a number of my girls who have developmental disabilities began to have their periods. And it happened at such a surprisingly early time. These girls had already started the early stages of puberty. They already had breast buds. They were already developing pubic hair, but we weren't expecting their periods for about another year.

RASCOE: Wow. And so, you know, I mentioned the two studies out of Italy show an increase in early onset puberty. But those are just two studies, and only one is based on empirical data. So are we sure that COVID is really speeding up puberty, or is it just kind of a question right now?

SPINKS-FRANKLIN: It's still a question right now, but a number of pediatricians across different specialties are observing this phenomenon anecdotally among their own patient populations. And we're not sure of the why or the how. And in those Italian studies, not only did they see early onset puberty happening to more girls. They also observed them advancing through puberty more rapidly.

RASCOE: You said there are some hypotheses on why this might be happening. What are some of the thoughts on what could be happening? Could it be stress? Could it be just such a rapid change?

SPINKS-FRANKLIN: Initially, among my colleagues, we thought it was related to the stress of the pandemic lockdown, the significant stress that children were under, where, suddenly, the entire world was turned upside down. And we know that stress can do lots of things to children's bodies. And that was our initial thought. And then there's also a thought that it could be related to increase in body weight. There are a lot of different ideas that physicians are thinking about, but we don't have enough information to be able to figure out an underlying mechanism at this juncture.

RASCOE: So what can be done to make it easier on kids who are going through this? Is it about destigmatizing the period, just having that family support, medical support? What can be done to help?

SPINKS-FRANKLIN: I strongly believe in early education for students about their bodies. By the time a child is 3 years old, they should know the proper names and the basic function of their body parts, including intimate body parts. I encourage the parents that I see in my clinic that once they notice that their daughters have breast buds, start talking about the period coming. Have the daughters start wearing panty liners every day, a very thin panty liner, so that she begins to appreciate or gets desensitized to having something in her underwear that she's never had before, learns how to put on, take off of, dispose of a pad appropriately. And this begins to mentally prepare her for the period coming. There are also children's books written about puberty and changes in the body that I encourage parents to read along with their children so they can understand all of these physical and mental and social changes that take place in the body.
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Even WebMD is getting in on it:
https://www.webmd.com/children/news/20220329/early-puberty-cases-rise-during-pandemic
Overwhelming numbers of early puberty cases among girls have been reported during the pandemic, according a report co-published by The Washington Post and The Fuller Project.

Early puberty is uncommon, affecting about one in every 5,000 to 10,000 children, with cases about 10 times higher in girls than boys. But since the pandemic started, doctors and parents around the world have noted a substantial surge in early puberty.

In some cases, girls as young as 5 have begun developing breasts and girls younger than 8 have started menstruation.
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So what is the likely culprit? Some widespread pollutant finally overcoming humanity's ability to cope? Too many hormones fed to too many chickens and cows? The Greys?
 
A recent news piece online indicates a feeling that COVID lockdown lifestyle changes may be responsible:

However, while searching for the original news article, it turns out that people have been talking about precocious puberty occurring more 11 years ago:

And ten years ago:

Which makes me wonder if the COVID connection to current precocious puberty coverage is more a modern "everything bad is because of COVID" thinking as opposed to anything from the pandemic's lifestyle changes.
 
Years ago, my cousin was only 8 years old when she started menstruating -
which, back in those days, was rather strange.
But she was also a very big girl, developed and very chubby, with a big appetite. Which they considered to be the problem.
However, my Mum made sure to tell me all about 'the birds and the bees' as soon as I got to be 8 years old, she didn't want me to be frightened. But I was a skinny little kid, and didn't start until I was 13.
 
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My opinion is that this is the dark side of covid vaccinations by not disclosing the effects of vaccinations on period cycles which was absolutely known in the early days of vaccinations.

My wife of many years had swelling under her arms and breasts, and my daughters discussed with me their problems with their vaccinations.

The government was not forthcoming.
 
charliebrown said:
My opinion is that this is the dark side of covid vaccinations by not disclosing the effects of vaccinations on period cycles which was absolutely known in the early days of vaccinations.

My wife of many years had swelling under her arms and breasts, and my daughters discussed with me their problems with their vaccinations.

The government was not forthcoming.
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It could be... but it seems like they have been talking about this for over 10 years now so I'm thinking that there is more to it than just COVID
 
charliebrown said:
My opinion is that this is the dark side of covid vaccinations by not disclosing the effects of vaccinations on period cycles which was absolutely known in the early days of vaccinations.
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western europe:

IIRC from my degree (taken sometime in the last ice age) the trend can be picked up from historical records going back to late medieval/early modern.

That is a couple of centuries before Jenner's smallpox vaccine in the late 1700s, and vaccination didn't become widespread until the 1900s!

Do you have evidence that makes vaccines being a cause likely? At the time I was studying the reason for what was a well-known trend was considered to be better maternal health and diet, together with better health and diet for the individual. Interested to find out that it's been superceded as a theory.
 
I have heard people here saying that they 'will never' take another vaccine, that they have had 'bad reactions' to the virus vaccine.
In particular, to the 'booster' shot, some people felt ill for quite some time afterwards, really ill. And refused to take a second booster. This from younger and older people.
We were fine, no reactions, but only had one booster, after hearing negative reports.
The feeling in this area is that time will tell if there are any long-lasting effects.
Interesting as well that some of those in the health care industry just refused the vaccine entirely, my neighbor for one.
 
I did learn this ages ago in health class and it may not be scientifically grounded. Age of onset of puberty in females has numerous factors, one of which is that menstruation does not happen until the female reaches 100 lbs. Also, ratio of body fat to muscle affects menstruation. That is why highly trained female athletes can stop menstruating.

Covid years have been inactive years for many people including children so it kind of stands to reason. I don't know about factors affecting male puberty.
 
A video fro South Korea from 2019, so pre-COVID again:
The text from this article, which blames the phenomenon in part on pollution and a "high-fat Western diet":
Parents often say their kids grow up too fast but new research is showing that this may be the case in a much more literal and concerning sense... Oh Soo-young files this report on the surge of children experiencing early puberty. The number of children experiencing premature puberty has surged in recent years,... triggering concerns for their health in later life. A report published by the National Health Insurance Service on Monday shows some 95-thousand children experienced premature puberty in 2017,... a 42-point3-percent jump from 2013,... or an increase of nine-point-two percent on average annually. Half of the children were aged between five and nine. Premature puberty happens when girls aged under eight and boys aged under nine begin physically developing into adults too soon. Various medical studies suggest the early onset of puberty could lead to mental and behavioral disorders, breast and ovarian cancer in girls and testicular cancer in boys,... and could stunt growth. Although the number of boys experiencing early puberty has increased at a greater rate than girls,... figures show a whopping nine out of ten children with the condition are female. The report cites increasing levels of pollution which can trigger the production of hormones which function similarly to estrogen as the possible cause for the increase. Another major cause is a shift in food consumption to a more Western, high-fat diet... as fat cells are known to produce estrogen. "The earlier the girls come into contact with such chemicals, the longer their exposure to the hormones, which generally raises the risk of premature puberty. Family medical history and personal characteristics, of course, also come into play." The symptoms, such as breast growth, the start of menstration, and the development of sweat glands, are usually treated with hormone therapy. To reduce the risk of premature puberty, doctors recommend reducing the use of plastic products in everyday life as well as the consumption of fast food. Oh Soo-young, Arirang News.
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It is well-known that athletic girls have a later onset of puberty. It is widely-reported that many children are more sedentary than before - a trend that started well before Covid. Diet and temperature are also said to affect the hormones.

There is probably a perfect storm of factors! :dunno:
 
brownmane said:
I did learn this ages ago in health class and it may not be scientifically grounded. Age of onset of puberty in females has numerous factors, one of which is that menstruation does not happen until the female reaches 100 lbs. Also, ratio of body fat to muscle affects menstruation. That is why highly trained female athletes can stop menstruating.

Covid years have been inactive years for many people including children so it kind of stands to reason. I don't know about factors affecting male puberty.
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This is what I assume. The increasing incidence of obesity and an increasing incidence of early puberty could well be connected. I have three daughters, two of whom didn't start their periods until they were well into their teens, both were skinny and extremely active, however their slightly chunkier sister started at twelve. I was nearly fifteen, if we want to bring family history into it.

I would posit that it's very largely linked to bodyweight, except in outlying cases where it could be medical.
 
catseye said:
This is what I assume. The increasing incidence of obesity and an increasing incidence of early puberty could well be connected. I have three daughters, two of whom didn't start their periods until they were well into their teens, both were skinny and extremely active, however their slightly chunkier sister started at twelve. I was nearly fifteen, if we want to bring family history into it.

I would posit that it's very largely linked to bodyweight, except in outlying cases where it could be medical.
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Bodyweight/fat ratios and genetics combined...Family history of early onset of puberty/breast growth/periods is probably a big factor. I always hated the skinny little girls in my class (tall/short but skinny). I always felt fat next to them, and I got fairly early puberty too (breasts started growing a bit at the end of primary school, periods at 11).

Fortunately, I had been told at a young age about periods since my mother had started them early with no knowledge of what they were and she wanted her children prepared just in case....

Even at senior school there were some skinny girls with chests as flat as pancakes and no periods/monthly pain/tiredness. Meanwhile, I was taking paracetamol for period pain and trying to make sure I didn't have any accidental "leaks" in PE classes. I am sure when the "pancakes" eventually got their puberty it probably was a shock to their system though....
 
catseye said:
No more a shock to the system than starting at any other age. We just had the chance to be better prepared. All the other disadvantages, we got those too.
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What I meant was - you had longer to enjoy not having all the drawbacks as a teen. I went straight from being a kid to having periods. No teen years without any periods/bras/pain/tiredness. Yes, I was jealous! :hahazebs:
Plus my periods had a weird way of happening when they shouldn't - e.g being 2 weeks early etc. You could guarantee if I was going away on a summer camp thing or whatever, that my period would happen, even if I hadn't had the full time "off." I always had to carry period products everywhere in case.....
I think going on the pill made them a lot lighter/more regular for me. Even when I came off the pill they were never as heavy/unpredictable as during my teenage years/at school.....

There do seem to be more girls of senior school age who are rather large for their height now, than there were in my senior school years (1982-1987). I would expect puberty to be hitting that group at an earlier age than the smaller girls - and if their number is increasing in the population, that would be an upwards trend. But genetics is in the mix too. And I am not a scientist or medic.
 
Earthly oddity said:
There do seem to be more girls of senior school age who are rather large for their height now, than there were in my senior school years (1982-1987). I would expect puberty to be hitting that group at an earlier age than the smaller girls - and if their number is increasing in the population, that would be an upwards trend. But genetics is in the mix too. And I am not a scientist or medic.
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I hadn't throught about that bit - the idea that size, not weight may factor into early puberties. But at age 5 even that seems quite unusual...
 
I wonder what the ancient Chinese scholars would have said of this phenomenon ...

Interpreting anomalies as a sign of heavenly discontent, e.g. "disharmony between Yin and Yang", was indeed one of their chief activities. Ancient dynastic histories are litteraly filled with stories of mothers giving birth to monsters, people suddenly adopting weird fashions, and so on ... The scholars always managed to link this with some kind of disastrous events to come.

I guess they would have seen early puberty as a sign of a general decline in morals ! Or perhaps, too much "girl power" (confucianism was not especially feminist).
 
Earthly oddity said:
What I meant was - you had longer to enjoy not having all the drawbacks as a teen. I went straight from being a kid to having periods. No teen years without any periods/bras/pain/tiredness. Yes, I was jealous! :hahazebs:
Plus my periods had a weird way of happening when they shouldn't - e.g being 2 weeks early etc. You could guarantee if I was going away on a summer camp thing or whatever, that my period would happen, even if I hadn't had the full time "off." I always had to carry period products everywhere in case.....
I think going on the pill made them a lot lighter/more regular for me. Even when I came off the pill they were never as heavy/unpredictable as during my teenage years/at school.....

There do seem to be more girls of senior school age who are rather large for their height now, than there were in my senior school years (1982-1987). I would expect puberty to be hitting that group at an earlier age than the smaller girls - and if their number is increasing in the population, that would be an upwards trend. But genetics is in the mix too. And I am not a scientist or medic.
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Ah yes, I see what you mean. Yes, we had more time to enjoy 'being children' I suppose. But after that? Pretty much all the same experiences - pain, unexpected staining, irregular periods, the whole thing. Plus, I'm sure I've read that those who start puberty later tend to experience later menopause, so we catch up, just at the other end!
 
catseye said:
This is what I assume. The increasing incidence of obesity and an increasing incidence of early puberty could well be connected. I have three daughters, two of whom didn't start their periods until they were well into their teens, both were skinny and extremely active, however their slightly chunkier sister started at twelve. I was nearly fifteen, if we want to bring family history into it.

I would posit that it's very largely linked to bodyweight, except in outlying cases where it could be medical.
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I wonder if uncertainty about the future is a factor. From an evolutionary perspective, stress suggests higher risk, and this might be countered by earlier puberty to increase the chances of reproduction.
 
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What on earth are these poor children being given to eat?
When I was a kid, we were always outside in the pool, playing baseball, soccer, volleyball, badminton, hopscotch, jump rope, ice skating, just everything. When we wanted a snack, it was fruit.
Dinner was always a home cooked meal, there was no such thing as going to Burger King and McDonald's.
When I see children today at the supermarket for instance, they certainly don't appear to be healthy or doing much in the way of physical exercise.
Sad for them.
 
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MrRING said:
A video fro South Korea from 2019, so pre-COVID again:
"Oh Soo-young files this report"
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Are we just going to let this excellent case of nominative determinism pass us by? :eek:

I would agree with other posters that a trend towards over-nutrition and sedentary behaviour, accelerated by lockdowns during the pandemic have a lot to do with this although I wouldn't want to rule out environmental pollution either.
 
Min Bannister said:
Are we just going to let this excellent case of nominative determinism pass us by? :eek:

I would agree with other posters that a trend towards over-nutrition and sedentary behaviour, accelerated by lockdowns during the pandemic have a lot to do with this although I wouldn't want to rule out environmental pollution either.
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I've never forgotten being told decades ago that something from the contraceptive pill ends up in the water supply eventually.....As I say, I am no scientist or medic....
 
I don't believe it's over-nutrition, it's eating foods that are just not good for them, and too much of it. Simple.
Any doctor will tell you that being overweight and obese brings a whole set of problems.
 
Ronnie Jersey said:
I don't believe it's over-nutrition, it's eating foods that are just not good for them, and too much of it. Simple.
Any doctor will tell you that being overweight and obese brings a whole set of problems.
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Perhaps over-nutrition is not the best wording. As people have had access to better nutrition they have grown bigger than previous generations. This is not just related to now, There is historical evidence.
 
Ronnie Jersey said:
I don't believe it's over-nutrition, it's eating foods that are just not good for them, and too much of it. Simple.
Any doctor will tell you that being overweight and obese brings a whole set of problems.
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That is exactly what overnutrition is.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/overnutrition

Definition of overnutrition​


: excessive food intake especially when viewed as causing adverse health effects. Overnutrition refers to the type of malnutrition when consumption of energy or nutrients exceeds requirements.
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It does not have anything to do with eating too many vitamins or anything although it may sound a bit like that. In fact you can be overnourished and malnourished at the same time if you eat too much junk food, getting overweight and missing out on al the vitamins and minerals you need.
 
I'd have thought that environmental factors would have made early-onset puberty become far more widespread. Nutritional factors would tend to peg it back to those who were less physically active. As has been noted already, puberty is still later in onset in those who have a very active lifestyle (gymnasts and sporting kids) and those who restrict their dietary intake (ballet dancers, models, etc).

I'd have thought contraceptives in the water and pollution etc would have got those groups too.
 
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