Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology
Endocrine Abstracts (2011) 26 P320

ECE2011 Poster Presentations Obesity (47 abstracts)

Low birth weight and obesity are associated with increased androgen levels among children with premature adrenarche

L Lekka , E Kousta , K Anyfandakis , S Leka & A Papathanassiou


P and A Kyriakou Children’s Hospital, Athens, Greece.


Introduction: The aim of the study was to assess the impact of obesity and birth weight (BW) at diagnosis of premature adrenarche (PA) in a large cohort of greek children.

Methods/design: We assessed clinical and laboratory characteristics of 221 children (175 girls and 46 boys) at diagnosis of PA.

Results: At diagnosis of PA 149 children (67.4%) had pubic hair (Tanner stage ≥2), 10 (4.5%) had axillary hair (Tanner stage ≥2) and 62 (28.1%) had both axillary and pubic hair. Mean (±S.D.) bone age was significantly higher than chronological age (7.4±2.1 vs 6.6±1.8 years girls; P<0.001 and 8.6±2.3 vs 7.3±2.0 years boys; P<0.001). Among the 221 children with PA, 57 (26%) were overweight and 64 (29.0%) were obese, which is higher than the prevalence of obesity among prepubertal greek children. There was a positive correlation between BMI and testosterone levels (r=0.17, P=0.02), DHEAS levels (r=0.27, P<0.001) and bone age minus chronological age (r=0.19, P=0.006), Among the 187 full term pregnancy children there was a negative correlation between BW and testosterone (r=−0.21, P=0.005), DHEAS (r=−0.15, P=0.038), 17-OH-progesterone (r=−0.23, P=0.002) and D4-Androstendione levels (r=−0.18, P=0.04).

Conclusions: Obesity and lower birth weight are associated with increased androgen levels among children with PA.

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