What are the causes of precocious puberty?
Usually precocious puberty is idiopathic (unknown cause). In some instances, it is due to an endocrine disorder. Cerebral precocious puberty is associated with a brain abnormality. Most patients, particularly girls suspected of having CPP, are otherwise healthy children whose pubertal maturation begins at the early end of the normal distribution curve. CNS imaging studies of these otherwise healthy 6- to 8-year-old girls usually reveal no structural abnormalities. A 2002 study of 200 girls in France found abnormal brain imaging findings in 2% of girls whose onset of puberty was between age 6 and 8 years and in 20% of girls whose onset of puberty was before age 6 years.1 A smaller 2003 study from the United Kingdom reported abnormal findings in 15% of 67 girls.2 Abnormal CT scan or MRI findings are more frequent among boys with CPP than among girls with CPP.
