We know that children and young people enter puberty earlier than their grandparents did just 50-100 years ago. However, it is not immediately clear whether the average puberty age is continuing to fall, what the cause could be in this case and whether early or late puberty has importance for our health later in life.
In animal experiments it has been shown that exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals in prenatal life can play a crucial role in pubertal development, but the correlation has never been confirmed in studies on humans. We therefore wish to study the extent of three different factors with potential endocrine disrupting effects - and these are: ingestion of headache medication during pregnancy; the use of hormonal treatment and artificial fertilization to achieve pregnancy; and the content of endocrine disrupting substances (PFCs) in the mother's blood during pregnancy -and whether these alter the age of puberty and the first part of puberty in adolescents. In 2002-2003, blood samples were taken from a group of pregnant mothers who were also interviewed about lifestyle and medicine consumption. 22,550 children born to these mothers have responded to a detailed questionnaire on their pubertal development every six months since the age of 11. In other words, we collect information about their pubertal development while this is happening, and by using this we are able to examine the above-named correlations.
My project will contribute to existing, limited knowledge about pubertal development and potentially identify causes of changes in the age of puberty in Danish adolescents. Studies of the causes of such changes are extremely important, for example as premature pubertal development can be a marker for the development of important diseases such as diabetes, obesity and testicular cancer in adulthood.
Project responsibility: MD, PhD Student Andreas Ernst
Principal Supervisor: Professor Cecilia Høst Ramlau-Hansen, MSc., PhD
Co-Supervisor: Professor Henning Olsen, MD, DMSc
Co-supervisor: Professor Jørn Olsen, MD, PhD
