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Is puberty getting earlier? The views of doctors and teachers
F O Finlay1, R Jones, Coleman J
1Department of Community Child Health, Bath and North-east Somerset NHS Primary Care Trust, Bath, UK. fiona.finlay@banespct.nhs.uk
Aims:
To determine the views of teachers, general practitioners (GPs) and paediatricians about whether there has been a recent change in the timing of the onset of puberty in children in the UK and in the timing of menarche in girls.
Design:
Questionnaires were sent to a stratified random sample of each professional group.
Results:
In relation to girls, almost 80% of teachers believe that the onset of puberty is occurring earlier and 73% feel that the menarche is occurring earlier. Those who had been working for longer than 10 years were more likely to say that the age of onset of puberty had decreased. GPs feel that both puberty and menarche are starting earlier, whereas paediatricians were evenly divided between those who thought puberty was starting earlier and those who thought that the timing had not changed. In boys, professionals generally believe that the timing of the onset of puberty has not altered significantly.
Conclusion:
Further study is required to determine whether puberty is really occurring earlier in girls.