Published online February 1, 2008
PEDIATRICS Vol. 121 Supplement February 2008, pp. S192-S207 (doi:10.1542/peds.1813E)
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SUPPLEMENT ARTICLE


Environmental Factors and Puberty Timing: Expert Panel Research Needs

Germaine M. Buck Louis, PhDa, L. Earl Gray, Jr, PhDb, Michele Marcus, PhD, MPHc, Sergio R. Ojeda, DVMd, Ora H. Pescovitz, MDe, Selma Feldman Witchel, MDf, Wolfgang Sippell, MD, PhDg, David H. Abbott, PhDh, Ana Soto, MDi, Rochelle W. Tyl, PhDj, Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, MD, PhDk, Niels E. Skakkebaek, MD, DMScl, Shanna H. Swan, PhDm, Mari S. Golub, PhDn, Martin Wabitsch, MD, PhDo, Jorma Toppari, MD, PhDp and Susan Y. Euling, PhDq

a Epidemiology Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
b Endocrinology Branch, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
c Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
d Division of Neuroscience, Oregon National Primate Research Center-Oregon Health and Sciences University, Beaverton, Oregon
e Department of Pediatrics and Cellular and Integrative Physiology, Riley Hospital for Children, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana
f Division of Endocrinology, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
g Division of Endocrinology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany
h Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology and Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
i Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts
j Center for Life Sciences and Toxicology, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
k CHU Sart-Tilman, University of Liege, Belgium
l University Department of Growth and Reproduction, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
m Department of Family & Community Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
n Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, California Environmental Protection Agency, Sacramento, California
o Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany
p Departments of Physiology and Pediatrics, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
q National Center for Environmental Assessment, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC

Serono Symposia International convened an expert panel to review the impact of environmental influences on the regulation of pubertal onset and progression while identifying critical data gaps and future research priorities. An expert panel reviewed the literature on endocrine-disrupting chemicals, body size, and puberty. The panel concluded that available experimental animal and human data support a possible role of endocrine-disrupting chemicals and body size in relation to alterations in pubertal onset and progression in boys and girls. Critical data gaps prioritized for future research initiatives include (1) etiologic research that focus on environmentally relevant levels of endocrine-disrupting chemicals and body size in relation to normal puberty as well as its variants, (2) exposure assessment of relevant endocrine-disrupting chemicals during critical windows of human development, and (3) basic research to identify the primary signal(s) for the onset of gonadotropin-releasing hormone–dependent/central puberty and gonadotropin-releasing hormone–independent/peripheral puberty. Prospective studies of couples who are planning pregnancies or pregnant women are needed to capture the continuum of exposures at critical windows while assessing a spectrum of pubertal markers as outcomes. Coupled with comparative species studies, such research may provide insight regarding the causal ordering of events that underlie pubertal onset and progression and their role in the pathway of adult-onset disease.

Key Words: human puberty • puberty timing • breast development • menarche • pubic hair development • genital development • endocrine disruptors • body fat

Accepted Sep 5, 2007.