Puberty & Menstrual Disorders Flashcards
Puberty definition
onset of sexual maturation
- neuroendocrine and physiologic changes
- includes:
- ability to ovulate and menstruate
- fertility
- growth spurt
- development of secondary sexual characteristics
age of onset of puberty in girls
ages 8-9 w/ thelarche (breast development)
obese mature earlier d/t leptin hormone and gonadotropin secretion
Biological Factors of Puberty
HPG axis, CNS, endocrine system
- extrahypothalamic factors- cause hypothalamus to secrete gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) ->
- GnRH stimulates anterior pituitary to release gonadotropins: FSH and LH ->
- FSH/LH stimulate ovaries to release sex hormones ->
- paracrine (regional/local) sex hormones - inhibin, activin, follistatin - influence +/- feedback loops for HPG axis
Order of Puberty*
- Adrenarche
- Gonadarche
- Thelarche
- Pubarche
- Menarche
Adrenarche
increased production of adrenal androgens
- occurs w/ regeneration of zona reticularis in adrenal cortex
- usually age 6-8
- starts process, occurs before visible phenotypic changes
Gonadarche
gonadal maturation
- activation of H-P-gonadal axis (GnRH secretion stimulating AP production of LH/FSH causing ovaries to produce estrogen)
- around age 8
Thelarche
breast development
- usually 1st phenotypic sign of puberty (breast buds)
- usually age 9
- d/t increased estrogen levels
Pubarche
pubic and axillary hair development
- usually age 11
Menarche
onset of menstruation
- avg. is age 12-13 or 2.5 years after breast bud development
- usually irregular for first 1-2 years (anovulatory cycles)
when is female puberty complete
first ovulatory menstrual period - when capable of reproduction
average age of female growth spurt
age 12
- about 9 cm per year
- d/t direct affect of sex steroids on epiphyseal growth and GH secretion from anterior pituitary (to all tissues)
length of development of
secondary sex characteristics and linear growth
4.5 years (range of 1.5-6 years)
Marshall and Tanner
classification of breast and pubic hair development
I - prepubertal stage fine vellus hair
II - growth of sparse straight hair along labia
III - increase in hair, darker and curlier
IV - hair resembles adult pubic hair, escutcheon covers smaller area
V - hair increases in volume and speads to medial thigh in characteristic female configuration
2 abnormalities of reproductive tract development
- androgen insensitivity
- male genotype but female phenotype
- testes palpable in labia majora
- absence of cervix, uterus, and ovaries
- abnormal cell migration in mullerian ducts during development
- uterine abnormalities
- trouble becoming pregnant or carrying baby to term
Precocious Puberty
(definition and MCC*)
- development of secondary sex characteristics
- before age 8 in girls (9 in boys)
- taller than others as children but shorter as adults d/t premature fusion of long bone epiphyses
- idiopathic MCC
2 types of prococious puberty
- heterosexual
- something causing hormone surge: virilizing neoplasms, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, or exposure to exogenous androgens
- isosexual
- incomplete, complete, pseudosexual
Complete Isosexual Precocious Puberty
full secondary sex characteristics
and increased levels of sex steroids
Incomplete Isosexual Precocious Puberty
early appearance of a single secondary sexual characteristic
(thelarche, adrenarche, pubarche)
True Isosexual Precocisous Puberty
premature activation of hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal system
- 75% constitutional, 10% CNS disorder (include MRI)
- Dx:
- GnRH challenge- see rise in LH equivalent to normal girls in puberty
Pseudosexual Isosexual Precocious Puberty
elevated estrogen levels cause sexual maturation WITHOUT activation of hypothalamic-pituitary axis
(something else creating estrogen)
- GnRH stimulation test does not induce pubertal gonadotropin levels
- examples**
- ovarian or adrenal neoplasm
- exogenous estrogen exposure
- advanced hypothyroidism
- McCune-Albright syndrome
- sexual precocity, cystic bone defects, cafe au laits
- Peutz-Jeghers syndrome
- GI tracts polyps, mucocutaneous pigmentation
Causes and Tx of True Isosexual Precocious Puberty
75% constitutional or idiopathic
- Tx: GnRH agonist therapy
- need to prevent accelerated epiphysial fusion (or <50% reach 5ft tall)
- final stature determined by chronological age at dx and initiation of tx
- <6 y/o- final height increases by 2-4%
- >6 y/o- final height not affected
2 definitions of delayed puberty
(more common than precocious)
- secondary sex characteristics have not appeared by age 13 in girls
- no menarche by age 15 or 16
Causes of delayed puberty** and Tx
- physiologic factors
- normal hormonal or HPG axis maturation delay
- cause 95% of those w/ delayed puberty
- disruption of HPG axis
- 5% of delayed puberty
- Tx: hormonal replacement
establishing ovarian cycle
- before puberty- ovaries secrete small amounts of estrogen -> inhibits hypothalamic release of GnRH
- as puberty nears- if leptin levels adequate, hypothalamus becomes less estrogen sensitive -> GnRH released -> FSH/LH released by pituitary -> act on ovaries
- events continue until adult cyclic pattern achieved- occurrence of menarche is last step in development