Pictionary﹕precocious puberty (性早熟)

【明報專訊】The Student Health Service of the Department of Health (衛生署學生健康服務計劃) regularly gives students between 6 and 19 physical checks and puberty (青春期) development assessments. Between the 05/06 and 08/09 academic years, on average 418.5 students a year showed signs of precocious puberty (性早熟). Nearly 90% of them were girls.

In the 08/09 academic year, 207 girls in Primary One or Two were found to have had breast development. Each year about 400,000 students participate in Student Health Service programmes, and about 0.1% of them have to be referred to the Hospital Authority (醫院管理局) for follow-up for precocious puberty.

According to the authorities, there is no evidence that precocious puberty in Hong Kong children is related to hormones (荷爾蒙) in food. Clear causes of precocious puberty are rarely identified, but some cases are due to changes in the brain or genetic problems. Professor Ellis Hon Kam-lun of the Chinese University's Department of Paediatrics said childhood obesity (兒童肥胖) and "over-nutrition" may lead to precocious puberty.