Puberty is one of the biggest, and often most awkward, changes that boys go through, and a new study shows it starts six months to two years earlier than previous data indicated. The findings raise concerns about the cause of the change and how boys could be affected by a sped-up timeline.
"Our question was, 'What's actually going on currently?' The data that was out there was old and of questionable validity," said Dr. Richard Wasserman, an author of the study and director of Pediatric Research in Office Settings at the American Academy of Pediatrics. "My interest [as a doctor] is, 'How do I know what's normal for boys?'"
In recent years, studies have drawn attention to early-onset puberty in girls in the U.S., including a 2010 paper that found more girls begin breast development at age 7 or 8 than a decade earlier. But the new study, published online in the journal Pediatrics on Saturday, is among the first to look at the issue in American boys.
Read More... 
No comments:
Post a Comment