Precocious puberty

In medicine, precocious puberty is puberty occurring at an unusually early age. In most of these children, the process is normal in every respect except the unusually early age, and simply represents a variation of normal development. In a minority of children, the early development is triggered by a disease such as a tumor or injury of the brain.

Normal Puberty

The time in one's life when sexual maturity takes place is known as puberty. The physical changes that mark puberty typically begin in girls between ages 8 and 13 and in boys between ages 9 and 14.

Precocious Puberty

Precocious puberty is puberty that begins abnormally early, and delayed puberty is puberty that begins abnormally late.

Children affected by precocious puberty may experience problems such as:

• Failure to reach their full height because their growth halts too soon
• Psychological and social problems, such as anxiety over being "different" from their peers. However, many children do not experience major psychological or social problems, particularly when the onset of puberty is only slightly early.

Delayed Puberty

Delayed puberty is the term for a condition in which the body's timing for sexual maturity is later than the normal range of ages.

Many children with delayed puberty will eventually go through an otherwise normal puberty, just at a late age. Other children have a long-lasting condition known as hypogonadism (pronounced HI-poe-GO-nad-iz-uhm) in which the sex glands (the testes in men and the ovaries in women) produce few or no hormones. For example, hypogonadism can occur in girls with Turner syndrome or in individuals with hypogonadotropic (pronounced HI-po-GO-nah-doe-TROH-pik) hypogonadism, which occurs when the hypothalamus (pronounced HI-po-THAL-uh-muss) produces little to no gonadotropin-releasing hormone (pronounced goh-nad-uh-TROH-pin) (GnRH).

Common Names

• Puberty
• Precocious puberty or early puberty
• Delayed puberty

Medical or Scientific Names

• Puberty
• Precocious puberty
• Delayed puberty

Pediatric glossary of terms | Glossary of medical terms | Dictionary of pediatrics

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# - A

• Adrenal gland disorders
• AIDS / HIV
• Amenorrhea
• ADHD or Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder
• Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)

B

• Bacterial vaginosis
• Birth control (see contraception)
• Birth defects
• Breastfeeding and breast milk
• Brittle bone disease also called osteogenesis imperfecta
• Bullying

C

• Cerebral palsy
• Childbirth see labor and delivery
• Childhood cancers
• Children's bone health and calcium
• Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (cah)
• Contraception and birth control
• Cushing syndrome
• Cyberbullying see bullying

D

• Delayed puberty see puberty and precocious puberty)
• Dental health in children
• Diabetes
• Down syndrome
• Driving risk
• Dyslexia

Table of contents:

.A | .B | .C | .D | .E | .F | .G | .H | .I | .J | .K | .L | .M

.N | .O | .P | .Q | .R | .S | .T | .U | .V | .W | .X | .Y | .Z

E

• Ear infections in children
• Early labor and birth (see preterm labor and birth)
• Early learning
• Early puberty (see puberty and precocious puberty)
• Eczema and atopic dermatitis
• Endometriosis

F

• Fertility problems (see infertility and fertility)
• Fibroids (see uterine fibroids)
• Fragile x syndrome
• Fragile x-associated primary ovarian insufficiency (fxpoi)
• Fragile x-associated tremor and ataxia syndrome (fxtas)

G

• Gestational diabetes (see diabetes)

H

• Hellp syndrome (see preeclampsia and eclampsia)
• High-risk pregnancy
• HIV and AIDS]]
• Hypoparathyroidism

I

• Infant care and infant health
• Infant mortality
• Infertility and fertility
• Intellectual and developmental disabilities

J

• Juvenile arthritis
• Juvenile diabetes (see diabetes)

K

• Klinefelter syndrome

L

• Labor and delivery
• Learning disabilities

Table of contents:

.A | .B | .C | .D | .E | .F | .G | .H | .I | .J | .K | .L | .M

.N | .O | .P | .Q | .R | .S | .T | .U | .V | .W | .X | .Y | .Z

M

• Maternal mortality
• Mccune-albright syndrome (mas)
• Men's reproductive health
• Menkes disease
• Menopause
• Menstruation and menstrual problems
• Miscarriage (see pregnancy loss (before 20 weeks of pregnancy))
• Monosomy x (see turner syndrome)
• Muscular dystrophy

N

• Necrotizing enterocolitis
• Neural tube defects
• Neuroscience
• Newborn screening
• Niemann-pick disease

O

• Obesity and overweight
• Osteogenesis imperfecta

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.N | .O | .P | .Q | .R | .S | .T | .U | .V | .W | .X | .Y | .Z

P

• Pediatric injury
• Pelvic floor disorders
• Pelvic pain
• Pharmacology
• Phenylketonuria
• Pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma
• Pituitary tumors
• Polycystic ovary syndrome
• Prader-willi syndrome
• Preconception care and prenatal care
• Preeclampsia and eclampsia
• Pregnancy
• Pregnancy loss (before 20 weeks of pregnancy)
• Preterm labor and birth
• Primary ovarian insufficiency
• Puberty and precocious puberty

R

• Reading and reading disorders
• Rehabilitation medicine
• Rehabilitative and assistive technology
• Rett syndrome
• Rh incompatibility

S

• Sexually transmitted diseases
• Shaken baby syndrome
• Skipped or no menstrual periods (see amenorrhea
• Sleep
• Spina bifida
• Spinal cord injury
• Spinal muscular atrophy
• Stillbirth
• Stroke
• Sudden infant death syndrome

T

• Toxemia (see preeclampsia and eclampsia)
• Traumatic brain injury
• Trisomy 21 (see down syndrome)
• Turner syndrome

U

• Urinary tract health
• Uterine fibroids

V

• Vaginitis
• Vasectomy
• Vulvodynia

Table of contents:

.A | .B | .C | .D | .E | .F | .G | .H | .I | .J | .K | .L | .M

.N | .O | .P | .Q | .R | .S | .T | .U | .V | .W | .X | .Y | .Z

W

• Women's health

X

• Xo syndrome (see turner syndrome)
• Xxy syndrome (see klinefelter syndrome (ks))

Z

• Zika

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