Abstract
Catecholamine excretion, when corrected for creatinine excretion, decreases throughout childhood, reaching adult levels at age 15. To explore the hypothesis that the pubertal process may play a role in this decrease we measured catecholamine and vanillylmandelic acid (VMA) excretion in 24 hour urine samples from 39 normal children (N) and from 42 children with precocious puberty (PP). The results (mean ± SEM), grouped according to age and pubertal stage, are shown in the Table: Children with precocious puberty had significantly decreased catecholamine and VMA excretion compared to age-matched normal subjects. Catecholamine and VMA excretion in PP decreased with increasing pubertal stage, mirroring the pattern seen in normal puberty. We conclude that puberty is associated with a decreased urinary catecholamine and VMA excretion and that children with precocious puberty have urinary catecholamine and VMA excretion that is decreased for age but appropriate for pubertal stage.
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