Examining Race-Based Puberty Information on Children's Hospital Websites

In 2022, the American Academy of Pediatrics called for dismantling race-based medicine due to its harmful impact on patient care and education. Despite this, race-based guidance regarding pubertal timing persists in the literature and patient resources. Given the role of pediatric hospital websites as sources of information for families and as data for Artificial Intelligence, we examined the presence of race-based guidance on pubertal timing in girls across U.S. pediatric hospital websites.

Pediatric hospitals in the United States were identified, and each website was queried using the terms "puberty" and "precocious puberty." Information provided on pubertal timing in girls was recorded, along with any inclusion of race-based guidance. Descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis of pediatric hospital puberty information were performed. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) test compared the prevalence of race-based information across seven U.S. regions.

Of 285 pediatric hospitals in the United States, 85 (29.8%) had patient-facing content on puberty, and 16 (18.8%) included race-based information. Half (8, 50%) of the pediatric hospitals that included race-based pubertal information included race as a "risk factor" for precocious puberty. Regional differences in the frequency of race-based pubertal information for patients on the hospital websites were not statistically significant (p=0.069).

This study demonstrates the ongoing presence of race-based information about puberty on pediatric hospital websites. Updating the patient-facing websites of pediatric hospital to avoid race-based pubertal guidance may foster a more inclusive and equitable environment for patients and their families.