Razi Journal of Medical Sciences

    Background & Aim: Ethnicity and location are among the factors that affect the time of puberty onset. There are few studies concerning the age of puberty in Iranian children. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the age at the onset of puberty in Iranian schoolgirls and schoolboys living in Tehran. Patients & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between 2001 and 2004 on 2212 children consisting of 1420 6-17-year-old healthy schoolgirls and 792 6-15–year-old healthy school boys living in Tehran, Iran. Samples were collected on the basis of a multistage probability sampling. All the samples, examined by a physician, were evaluated with regard to the secondary pubertal characteristics, and asked about the presence of menarche. All pubertal characteristics were evaluated by inspection, while budding breast was by palpation. General additive logistic modeling method was used for the analysis of data and the estimation of the probability of pubertal stages. Results: The median age(percentile 10, percentile 90) of G2 and P2 in boys were 9.01(90=11.84) and 10.34(6.84-13.10) years and the median age of B2 and P2 among 1136 girls were 9.74(8.23-11.94) years and 10.49(8.86-12.17) years, respectively. There were 399 girls who had experienced menarche with the median age of 12.68(11.27-15.96) years. Conclusion: The time of the onset of secondary pubertal characteristics among Iranian girls is similar to other white girls but the onset of puberty seems to be earlier among Iranian boys in comparison with reports from the other countries.