We investigated for evidence of early
metabolic syndrome irrespective of
body mass index (BMI) in subjects with premature
pubarche (PP). Ten children with PP were compared with controls matched for age, sex, ethnicity, and BMI.
Congenital adrenal hyperplasia and other known causes of PP were excluded by standard methods.
Anthropometry,
blood pressure (BP),
dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry body scan, fasting
blood lipid profile, and
cytokines were obtained. The children were divided into 2 groups: (1) the
total group of children with PP, and their age-, sex-, ethnicity-, and BMI-matched controls and (2) those with PP and normal BMI (<19 kg/m(2)) and their matched controls
selected from the original groups. The PP subjects with normal BMI (S(1)) showed significantly higher systolic BP (P = .028),
diastolic BP (P = .028), and
mean arterial pressure (P = .018) compared with matched controls (C(1)). Nevertheless, for both groups, all the above parameters were
statistically not significant when corrected for height. Fat distribution in PP subjects indicated significantly higher android (P = .047) and android-gynoid ratio (P = .013). Normal-BMI PP children had significantly higher android-gynoid ratio fat distribution compared with their matched controls (P = .037). Trunk fat percentage (p: 0.04) and trunk fat (grams) (P = .007) were significantly elevated in PP children compared with matched controls. Again, for both groups, all the above parameters were not
statistically significant when corrected for height. The PP subjects had significantly higher
tumor necrosis factor (
TNF)-alpha (P = .038) and interleukin-8 (picograms per milliliter) (P = .05) compared with matched controls. Normal-BMI PP children also had higher
TNF-alpha (P = .028) compared with matched controls. When corrected for height,
TNF-alpha was higher in the total (P = .037) and normal-BMI (P = .043) PP children. Premature
pubarche can be linked to markers of the
metabolic syndrome in lean children.
