Precocious pubarche in Thai children.

OBJECTIVE To describe the etiologies, clinical characteristics, and laboratory investigations of young Thai children being evaluated for precocious pubarche. MATERIAL AND METHOD The medical records of 41 children referred for evaluation of precocious presence of pubic hair at Songklanagarind Hospital between 1995 and 2011 were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS The etiologies of precocious pubarche in young Thai children were congenital adrenal hyperplasia (n = 19, 46.3%), isolated premature adrenarche without pathology (n = 12, 29.3%), hypothalamic hamartoma (n = 7, 17.1%), adrenocortical carcinoma (n = 2, 4.9%), and Leydig cell tumor (n = 1, 2.4%). The weight and height of patients with pathological etiologies were significantly greater than those with isolated premature adrenarche (p < 0.001). Patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia had significantly greater levels of basal and peak 17-hydroxyprogesterone than those with isolated premature adrenarche (p < 0.001). Patients with adrenocortical carcinoma had significantly greater level of DHEAS than those with congenital adrenal hyperplasia and isolated premature adrenarche (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION The precocious presence of pubic hair in young Thai children should be investigated for an underlying pathological etiology. The most common underlying pathology of precocious presence of pubic hair is congenital adrenal hyperplasia.