A Clinical Study of the Relationship between Obesity and Pubertal Development in Girls

• Published in: Pediatric gastroenterology, hepatology & nutrition Vol. 15; no. 3; pp. 175 - 182
• Main Authors: Kim, Hui Kwon, Lee, Jong Yoon, Bae, Eun Ju, Park, Won Il, Lee, Hong Jin, Oh, Phil Soo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 대한소아소화기영양학회 01.09.2012
• Subjects: 소아과학
• ISSN: 2234-8646; 2234-8840
• DOI: 10.5223/pghn.2012.15.3.175

Purpose: Recently, public interest in obesity and earlier pubertal development has been increasing. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between obesity and pubertal development in girls. Methods: A total of 158 girls presenting with earlier pubertal development from July 2008 to June 2010 were included in the study. Their mean age was 8.27±1.3 years and the mean bone age advancement was 1.86±0.3 years. Results: Based on weight-for-height percentiles, their obesity rate was 9.2% and overweight rate was 15.8%. However, for body mass index (BMI), the result was a bit different; with an obesity rate of 13.2% and overweight rate of 24.3%. About 40% of the girls had a family history of early maturation. Among them, 25.7% had a maternal history, 4.6% paternal and 7.2% both. However, 60% of them had no family history. We then classified these girls into families with one son and one daughter, and those with two daughters. In one-son/one-daughter families, 69.3% were the first children and 30.7% were second. In two-daughter families, 65.3% were the first and 34.7% were second. We found that 67.5% had a history of taking herbal medicine. Conclusion: The obesity and overweight rates in girls with earlier pubertal development were higher than those of normal girls, but with a small discrepancy between weight-for-height percentile and BMI-based results. Furthermore, taking herbal medicine seems to be a potential factor for earlier pubertal development in Korea. KCI Citation Count: 0