What is precocious puberty in children? Precocious puberty in children is characterized by the early appearance of pubertal features. Precocious puberty occurs when girls show signs of sexual development before the age of 8 and boys before the age of 9. Specifically, girls show hard nodes in their breasts before the age of 8 and menstruation before the age of 10, and boys show enlarged testicles before the age of 9. According to the pathogenesis of precocious puberty, precocious puberty can be divided into central precocious puberty and peripheral precocious puberty. The central precocious puberty, also known as true precocious puberty, is due to the early activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, which makes the gonads develop and function perfectly, the same as the normal puberty maturation mechanism. It is often caused by the following reasons: organic lesions of the central nervous system, such as hypothalamic or pituitary tumors or other central nervous system lesions; transformation from peripheral precocious puberty; failure to detect organic lesions, called idiopathic central precocious puberty; incomplete central precocious puberty, which is a special type of CPP. There is a possibility of inducing the occurrence of central precocious puberty. Peripheral precocious puberty is due to the elevation of sex steroid hormones in the body to the level of puberty caused by various reasons, so only the early appearance of secondary sexual characteristics, but does not have a complete sexual developmental programmatic process. In girls, it is commonly caused by hereditary ovarian abnormalities, benign ovarian occupational lesions such as autonomic ovarian cysts, estrogen-secreting adrenocortical tumors or ovarian tumors, ectopic human chorionic gonadotropin-secreting tumors, and exogenous estrogen intake. In boys, congenital adrenocortical hyperplasia (more common), adrenocortical tumors or testicular mesenchymal stromal cell tumors, ectopic human chorionic gonadotropin-secreting tumors, and exogenous androgen intake are common. What are the risks of precocious puberty in children? Precocious puberty in children can cause both psycho-behavioral and physical developmental hazards. Precocious puberty in children who are still in childhood physically and psychologically, but whose sexual organs have entered puberty early, will bring great psychological pressure to children and lead to abnormal psychological development; children with precocious puberty will have abnormal behavior and reduced social adaptability because their body size is different from that of their peers; girls with precocious puberty will be mentally stressed due to premature breast development or menstruation, which will affect their academic performance; precocious puberty can lead to children’s eventual adult height and short stature. Premature puberty can lead to short adult height, and children with short stature may lose many opportunities when they face further education, employment and marriage in the future. Why does precocious puberty affect a child’s height? For example, although a 7-8 year old girl with precocious puberty is taller than a normal child of the same age, an x-ray of her left wrist bone may show that her bone age has reached the developmental level of a 12-13 year old girl and her growth potential is impaired. Therefore, the final height in adulthood is often shorter than normal. Why should precocious puberty in children be detected and treated early? Although precocious puberty can lead to short final adult height, the majority of children with precocious puberty can improve their final adult height through treatment, and the key to a satisfactory outcome is the degree of sexual development of the child. In order to obtain the best treatment effect, early detection of precocious puberty in children must be clearly diagnosed and treated as early as possible.