1 The Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado Medical Center, Denver
Cytologic examination of desquamated cells in voided urine was performed in 236 children. The urinary sediment of 95% of girls and 80.5% of boys of all ages exhibited changes consistent with sex-hormone stimulation. Cytologic changes were most marked in the neonatal period and at puberty; during the first week of life, the most striking alteration occurred in low-birth-weight infants.
Our findings suggest that the quantity of sex hormones known to be produced in both sexes throughout childhood may be sufficient to cause discernible changes in cells derived from the urogenital tract.
Submitted on December 23, 1965