Precocious puberty in children

Precocious puberty in children refers to the premature appearance of secondary sexual characteristics that are inconsistent with age before puberty. Excessive secretion of estrogen in women causes breast development and menstruation in girls before the age of eight. The appearance of secondary sexual characteristics in boys is accompanied by physical development and different developments such as beard and genitals. More than 80% of precocious puberty is caused by intracranial lesions. So what are the main causes of precocious puberty? Let us introduce what causes precocious puberty in children below.

Children's precocious puberty is mainly divided into four parts. One is central precocious puberty, which is mainly dependent on malignant tumors in the brain and the premature development of sexual function. The second is central precocious puberty, the third is female pseudo-precocious puberty, and the other is male pseudo-precocious puberty. What are the differences between the four? Let us briefly introduce them below.

Central precocious puberty

Also known as GnRH-dependent precocious puberty or true precocious puberty, it is the true activation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis. It not only leads to the early appearance of secondary sexual characteristics, but also the early development and maturation of sexual function, which are all homosexual precocious puberty. Includes: idiopathic central precocious puberty, secondary central precocious puberty: hypothalamic pituitary lesions, HCG-secreting tumors, untreated primary hypothyroidism, and MuCune-Albright syndrome.

Peripheral precocious puberty

Also known as non-GnRH dependent precocious puberty or pseudo-precocious puberty. Due to various reasons, the sex hormones in the body increase to the level of puberty (spontaneous tumors or tissue hyperplasia that secrete sex hormones or intake of exogenous sex hormones), only secondary sexual characteristics appear prematurely, and there is no complete process of sexual development. It can be homosexual precocious puberty or heterosexual precocious puberty. Homosexual precocious puberty means that the secondary sexual characteristics that appear early are the same as the original sex of the child, while heterosexual precocious puberty means that the secondary sexual characteristics that appear early are opposite to the original sex.

Female pseudo-precocious puberty is divided into homosexual precocious puberty and heterosexual precocious puberty

Female homosexual precocious puberty (secondary sexual characteristics in girls) is seen in benign ovarian space-occupying lesions such as autonomous ovarian cysts, estrogen-secreting adrenal cortical tumors or ovarian tumors, ectopic tumors that secrete HCG, exogenous estrogen intake (such as birth control pills, cosmetics, environmental endocrine disruptors), and hereditary ovarian dysfunction such as McCune-Albright syndrome (MAS triad): café-au-lait spots, multiple cystic fibrous dysplasia, and precocious puberty.

Female heterosexual precocious puberty (secondary sexual characteristics of males) is seen in: congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), androgen-secreting adrenal cortical tumors or ovarian male cell tumors, androgen-secreting teratomas, exogenous androgen intake.

Male pseudoprecocious puberty is also divided into homosexual precocious puberty and heterosexual precocious puberty.

Male homosexual precocious puberty (male secondary sexual characteristics) is seen in: congenital adrenal hyperplasia (more common), adrenal cortical tumors or testicular Leydig cell tumors, tumors that ectopically secrete HCG, teratomas containing adrenal and/or testicular tissue, exogenous androgens or HCG intake.

Male heterosexual precocious puberty (female secondary sexual characteristics): adrenal cortical tumors or testicular tumors that produce estrogen, tumors that ectopically secrete HCG, and exogenous estrogen intake.

The above is the disease classification of precocious puberty in children. Central precocious puberty is mainly due to the premature appearance of secondary sexual characteristics and the premature development and maturation of sexual function, which is mainly due to the stimulation of the brain and central nervous system. Peripheral precocious puberty is mainly caused by tumors invading the human body. Pseudo-precocious puberty is mainly caused by hyperplasia of the adrenal cortex, etc. Male pseudo-precocious puberty is mainly caused by congenital adrenal glands and excessive intake of androgen. Therefore, timely psychological treatment of children for this disease is still necessary.