What is somatic puberty and accelerated sexual development

  With the development of the economy and the emergence of various food problems, “precocious puberty” is gradually understood, but there are still many misconceptions about the disease among the children and their parents whom we contact daily in the clinic. I hope to help parents who are not aware of this and those who are overly worried.  First of all, the correct understanding of accelerated somatic puberty and sexual development, the physiological variation of puberty and sexual development includes both accelerated somatic or physiological puberty and sexual development and delayed somatic puberty and sexual development, which are the extremes of the normal range of puberty and sexual development variation and are a special case of the normal developmental process of puberty. However, because both developmental levels deviate significantly from normal, it is difficult to distinguish them from true pathological developmental abnormalities, causing excessive parental concern, while over-treatment of some children adds to the burden on the family. Children with this developmental characteristic are relatively tall, with bone age one year or more above their actual age, and complete their growth at an early age, with lifelong height below the level estimated from childhood growth patterns, but in line with the average height of their parents. Girls show breast development often earlier than 8-8.5 years (the average age of onset of breast development in normal girls is 10-11 years), and boys can start puberty as early as 9-9.5 years.  The key issue is to distinguish between somatic pubertal advancement and pathological puberty and precocious sexual development, which requires detailed endocrine examination and long-term follow-up. Generally, the age of puberty onset is only slightly advanced in cases of somatic puberty and accelerated sexual development, while it is often significantly advanced in cases of pathological precocious puberty. Clinically, the age of 9-9.5 years (when testes begin to enlarge) in boys and the age of 8-8.5 years (when breasts begin to develop) in girls when secondary sexual characteristics begin to develop is generally taken as the threshold for accelerated development of institutional puberty.  For the treatment of children with accelerated institutional puberty and sexual development, follow-up observation under the supervision of a specialized physician and appropriate counseling are required, and no other treatment is usually necessary. The child and parents should be reassured that their situation is normal and that they are aware of the problems they are likely to face, such as the educational and psychological reactions to the physical aspects of boys and girls.