Abstract
Melatonin levels decrease with aging and substantially during puberty. Studies have presented distinct melatonin levels in patients with disorders related to their pubertal development compared to healthy controls. The discrepancy suggests that a decrease in melatonin concentrations seen during adolescence might be related to the physical, hormonal, and/or neuronal alterations that occur during the pubertal period. The aim of this review was to analyze the literature reporting melatonin levels in healthy children and adolescents during puberty, and to look for a potential relationship. The Medline and Embase databases were searched on November 28th 2024, including all articles published from 1974 to 2024. Moreover, in the studies eligible for full-text review, a "snowball" search based by backwards referencing was carried out to identify additional studies. This means going through the references of the eligible studies, to find potential other articles relevant for our review and met our inclusion criteria. Lastly, a meta-analysis on serum melatonin concentrations with increasing age and Tanner status was performed. 21 studies were included. 12 studies found a decrease, 5 found no difference and 3 reported an increase in melatonin levels during pubertal advancement. One study could not report secretory alterations but was eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis. This analysis revealed that Tanner stages were significantly associated with decreasing average as well as peak concentrations of melatonin. The simultaneous occurrence of pubertal progression and chronological aging complicates potential reasons to the decrease observed. However, possible explanations could be related to sex hormones, physical properties of puberty or light exposure. To justify these explanations research in controlled conditions along with biochemical and clinical assessment of pubertal status is needed.
Published Version
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