Precocious puberty in immigrant children: Indications for treatment

Immigration from developing countries to Europe has greatly increased durin g the last few years. Very little information is available on children who immigrated with their biological family, thus this paper deals only with ch ildren immigrating by adoption. In recent years some studies have shown an increased incidence of precocious puberty among adopted children, but infor mation on this issue is scanty. Several hypotheses have been put forward to explain precocious puberty in adopted children, including nutritional, eth nic and/or emotional factors. Untreated precocious puberty is associated wi th short stature and has social and psychological consequences in addition to those related to adoption. Therefore, indications for therapy need to be carefully planned. In adopted children age estimation is a possible source of error in timing of puberty as date of birth is often missing or inaccur ate, Thus each child must be carefully evaluated.