Am. Academy of Pediatrics Study: Boys reaching puberty earlier

Boys hitting puberty earlier, U.S. Study shows
By Patty Wensa, Toronto Star, October 20, 2012
For years, pediatric experts have warned that girls were reaching puberty earlier, but now males are maturing faster as well.
A new U.S. study shows their bodies are beginning to change on average at 9 for African-American boys and at 10 for Hispanic and white boys.
The research, by the American Academy of Pediatrics, means boys are going into puberty six months to two years earlier than previously documented.
Scientists say they don’t know why it’s happening.
“There needs to be more research,” says Richard Wasserman, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Vermont and one of study’s authors. “Any reasoning we do with respect to cause and effect is pure speculation.”
But doctors say it has important implications for treatment.
“As clinicians it helps us pick out kids who are truly hitting puberty in advance of normal, which means I need to be worried about those kids,” says Margo Lane, a pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist in Winnipeg, who was not involved in the study. Early puberty in either sex can be a sign of disease.
The new research is also important because it sets benchmarks by race. “That allows us to have an understanding of the variability of different races in terms of what’s normal,” says Lane.
A study done by the same research group in 1997 found that 7 per cent of white girls and 27 per cent of African-American girls were reaching puberty as early as 7. The reason for the difference between races isn’t known.
Experts have speculated the early onset is being brought on by weight or by hormones in the environment. Lane says one of the strongest predictors of puberty is genetic.
In this study, researchers recruited pediatricians and nurse practitioners across the U.S., as well as in Quebec, who measured the genital and pubic hair growth of more than 4,000 boys from 2005 to 2010. Parents were asked for consent.
The study updates 20-year-old information, which is hard to get because of the invasiveness of the procedure.
“The most common first sign of a boy going into puberty is the enlargement of the testicles,” says Lane. “The boys are obviously self-conscious about it and we don’t want to embarrass the boys.”
But Wasserman says all doctors are trained in the procedure and it should be done to determine if a child is progressing normally.
“There is a squeamishness that is emerging about examining the genitals of children that is probably related to the fear of child sexual abuse,” says Wasserman. “But these are examinations done with a parent in the room.”
He also thinks the research means sex education should be taught earlier.
“A more common sense reason to want this all to be assessed is so you can help your child through puberty,” says Wasserman. “There should be a parent who can matter-of-factly say, you know that boys and men look very different,” he says. “It shouldn’t be a mystery.”
That information isn’t taught in Ontario schools until Grade 5, but a group of experts recently advocated that it be part of the curriculum in Grade 4.
Lane says parents shouldn’t worry that the early onset of puberty means kids are deciding to have sex.
“By no means is it strictly hormonal,” says Lane. “There are so many other social and cultural factors that influence when a young person is going to start having sex.”