- Kristin Liang is an advanced 9-year-old. She loves to
read and perform in piano recitals, and she earns such good grades that
she's on the principal's list.
-
- But two years ago, her mother became worried that her
little girl was advancing in a shocking, scary way: She appeared to be
going through puberty.
-
- "It was very hard to figure to out what was going
on," said her mother, Hong Li. "I started to notice she was developing
her breasts."
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- Li, who lives in Glendale, immediately consulted her
pediatrician, who referred her to a specialist. His diagnosis was even
more frightening than she imagined.
-
- "They told me it was either brain cancer or ovarian
cancer," Li said. "I was so scared."
-
- But a series of tests revealed a different, more accurate
diagnosis within a year. Kristin was becoming a young woman, years before
her time.
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- She's not alone.
-
- Pediatricians report that girls as young as 2 are being
diagnosed with "precocious puberty." More unsettling than the
diagnosis is that scientists don't know why girls are maturing so early.
Boys also can be affected but so far represent only 10 percent of all cases.
-
- Doctors point to a range of potential environmental factors
- including growth hormones given to chickens and soy that mimics estrogen
in the human body - and even genetics as potential culprits.
-
- "It might be a lot of different factors," said
Dr. Khalid Hasan, a pediatric endocrinologist at Phoenix Children's Hospital
who began noticing the trend in the late 1980s.
-
- While some scientists believe the onset of early puberty
in girls is normal and not a cause for concern, others contend that thinking
is based on flawed findings published a few years ago in the journal Pediatrics.
These critics believe there is no reason for girls to begin puberty before
about age 10.
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- Doctors worry that girls who develop earlier than that
ultimately will wind up shorter than they otherwise would.
-
- The early production of estrogen may also lead to an
increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer later in life, while protecting
against uterine cancer, Alzheimer's and bone disease, such as osteoporosis.
Those links, however, aren't well established because the disorder is too
recent for long-term effects to have been studied.
-
- Doctors don't believe boys suffer any long-term effects,
except being short and experiencing mood changes that come with puberty.
-
- To counteract those effects, some doctors recommend that
girls and boys receive monthly injections of Lupron, a drug that stops
the production of a hormone that eventually triggers production in ovaries
and testicles.
-
- "I don't recommend that for everyone," Hasan
said. "Even when I have, a couple of families have said they think
that nature should run its course."
-
- Parents like Li, meanwhile, worry about the psychological
effects of early development. They cringe at the notion of having to explain
the changes in their little girls' bodies, including the mood swings that
can come with a woman's menstrual cycle. Some especially dread having to
talk to their girls about sex at such a tender age.
-
- "I really feel she's not ready for that," Li
said.
-
- In Kristin's case, her mother was able to avoid that
discussion. But by the time Kristin's condition was correctly diagnosed,
the little girl had started menstruating.
-
- The girl had to sit out of physical education classes
for a while.
-
- "It was boring," she said.
-
- Kristin also disliked the mood swings that came with
her cycle.
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- "For the first month, I didn't understand why she
was crying for no reason," Li said. "Then I realized what was
going on."
-
- With puberty now held at bay by monthly shots, Kristin
is asking her mother whether she can stay on the shots until she's much
older so she doesn't have to worry about her period for years to come.
-
- Hasan doesn't recommend that, saying Kristin will be
allowed to begin puberty sooner.
-
- "Once the forces of puberty start to get that strong,
you have to let nature take its course," he said.
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- http://www.azcentral.com/health/0416puberty16.html
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