ISSN 1662-4009 (online)

ESPE Yearbook of Paediatric Endocrinology (2018) 15 13.24 | DOI: 10.1530/ey.15.13.24

ESPEYB15 13 Global Health for the Paediatric Endocrinologist Growth and Development (5 abstracts)

13.24 Comparison of Tanner staging of HIV-infected and uninfected girls at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku/Ozalla, Enugu, Nigeria

Iloh ON , Iloh KK , Ubesie AC , Emodi IJ , Ikefuna AN & Ibeziako NS


Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, Enugu, Nigeria; Department of Paediatrics, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku/Ozalia, Enugu, Nigeria


To read the full abstract: J Pediatr Endocrinol Metab 2017; 30(7): 725-729

This cross-sectional case-control study reports that 8 to 18-year-old girls with perinatal HIV infection are less likely to have attained thelarche, menarche and pubarche than healthy peers matched for age and socio-economic status. Girls with perinatal HIV infection were on average over 1.5 years older than healthy girls at the time they reached Tanner II breast development, and there were trends towards reaching menarche 0.5 years later, and Tanner II pubic hair 1.1-year later. Pubarche was earlier than thelarche in both cases and controls, as previously reported in the Nigerian population. Overall, less than half of the girls with perinatal HIV infection had reached thelarche and pubarche, which likely limited the study’s power to detect statistically significant differences in the attainment of more advanced pubertal stages. Interestingly, the average ages at thelarche (12.4±1.99 years) and menarche (12.8±1.3 years) in girls with perinatal HIV infection were quite similar, compared to the expected 2 to 2.5 years duration for individual girls to progress from Tanner II to menarche. Rather than implying a later onset but faster paced puberty, this finding may either result from reporting bias, or could suggest that those who reached menarche could represent a sub-group of girls with perinatal HIV infection who undergo normal puberty.

More studies in boys and girls of various ethnic backgrounds are needed to further explore socio-demographic and environmental differences in pubertal development. Longitudinal cohort studies that prospectively document pubertal onset, progression, timing of menarche and their correlation with bone age, as well as HIV control and anti-retroviral use, inflammatory markers and cytokines, and co-infections and co-morbidities are needed to better characterize the relationship between perinatal HIV infection and pubertal development.

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