Staging puberty in children with cerebral palsy

Abstract

This study evaluates the pubertal development of children diagnosed with cerebral palsy and identifies the gender with the highest incidence of early maturation of primary and secondary sexual characteristics. We assessed 25 Caucasians children between the age of 5 and 10 diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. The children’s stage of sexual maturation was evaluated and classified according to the Tanner Stages. In the collected data, precocious maturation of secondary sexual characteristics was observed in three girls and nine boys. Statistically, there was a significant difference between the development of genitalia in boys and breasts in girls (p = 0.01). The boys presented a higher maturation speed of genitalia than the girls’ in their breasts (thelarche). The girls showed a higher development of hair (pubarche) than boys (p = 0.05). The direct relationship between neurological disorders and precocious maturation of the secondary sexual characteristics in children with cerebral palsy was concluded.

Keywords

• central nervous system diseases
• cerebral palsy
• precocious puberty