Girls are now entering puberty earlier, raising some health issues

"About 13 years ago there was a study across pediatric offices that looked at breast and pubic hair development," said Dr. Jane Broecker, a pediatric gynecologist in Athens. "That was one of the ways they got a sense of normal pubertal development."

Broecker did her fellowship with Dr. Frank Biro, who conducted the study at UC. It was partly funded through a group concerned with breast cancer, Broecker said.

Although the research only looked at breast tissue development and not menstruation, it showed that 10.4 percent of white girls are starting to show signs of breast development by the age of 7.

In 1997, only 5 percent of 7-year-old white girls showed this, Broecker said.

"The study shows that there has been a slight drop in the age of the start of puberty in white girls, but not African-American girls," Broecker said. "There is a variation with ethnicity. African-American girls tend to have earlier puberty than white girls."

Despite an expected earlier start of puberty in African-American girls, Broecker noted that the study showed an increase in the number of 7-year-old black girls developing breast tissue.

The recent study shows that by the age of 7, 23.4 percent were developing, versus the 15.7 percent developing in 1997, she said.

Although there is no proof that early breast development means girls will get their periods sooner, it is likely that that will happen, Broecker said.

"The concern is that girls who get their periods early have a higher risk of breast cancer," Broecker said. "Whether or not this shift in puberty development is going to result in higher rates of breast cancer is not known yet."

What is known, though, is that this lowering of the age when girls start puberty probably has to do with the increase of the average young girl's body mass index or BMI, Broecker said.

Childhood obesity has increased from 6.5 percent between 1976 and 1980 to 19.6 percent in 2007 and 2008, Broecker said. A higher BMI produces more of the hormone estrogen in the female body.

"Girls who are heavier and have a higher BMI are more likely to have earlier development," Broecker said. "Fat cells help produce estrogen, so if girls are fatter, they will have higher estrogen."

Broecker said that parents need to start educating their children about puberty in age-appropriate ways, and if they are concerned about their daughter's development, they should take her to the doctor.

"My advice to any parent that's concerned about it would be to bring the daughter in for assessment with a pediatrician or pediatric gynecologist to educate her," she said. "One of the problems with early puberty is if a parent is not expecting her to develop breasts at the age of 8. And she if she does, it's going to be scary."

At her practice, Broecker noted that some parents have been vocal with their concerns regarding their daughters' development.

"They're not sure if it should be happening too early," she said. "They're concerned if it presents a problem. And they worry about pregnancy if periods come early."

But despite children developing early physically, Dr. Jay Shubrook, an assistant professor of family medicine with the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, said emotionally they have slowed down.

"I think with the helicopter generation, parents hover over children more," he said. "They're more concerned about child safety."

In a study that Shubrook is conducting about the transition for children with diabetes to adolescence, he said, he is considering adolescence to be between the ages of 15-25.

"There are things that people are doing at 25 today, they were doing at 16 or 17 a generation ago," he said.

Shubrook said that this generation's parents have more protective mechanisms. The children, in turn, are tethered to their cell phones.

"When I was a child, all the way until I was 17, I ate breakfast at home," he said. "And I went out and didn't come home until dinner, if I came home."