Urinary bisphenol A levels in Turkish girls with premature thelarche.

There is a growing concern over the timing of pubertal breast development and its possible association with exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), such as bisphenol A (BPA). BPA is abundantly used to harden plastics. The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between premature thelarche (PT) and BPA by comparing the urinary BPA levels of PT girls with those of healthy subjects. Twenty-five newly diagnosed nonobese PT subjects (aged 4-8 years) who were admitted to the Pediatric Endocrinology Department at Akdeniz University were recruited. The control group composed of 25 age-matched girls without PT and other endocrine disorders. Urinary BPA levels were measured by high pressure liquid chromatography. The median urinary concentrations of BPA were found to be significantly higher in the PT group compared to the healthy control group (3.2 vs. 1.62 µg/g creatinine, p < 0.05). We observed a weak positive correlation between uterus volume and urinary BPA levels. There was a weak correlation between estradiol and urinary BPA levels ( r = 0.166; p = 0.37); and luteinizing hormone and urinary BPA levels ( r = 0.291; p = 0.08) of PT girls. Our results suggest that exposure to BPA might be one of the underlying factors of early breast development in prepubertal girls and EDCs may be considered as one of the etiological factors in the development of PT.

Urinary zearalenone levels in girls with premature thelarche and idiopathic central precocious puberty.

AIM: Recently, it was reported that the development of breast tissue and secondary sex characteristics in girls occurred at much younger age and the incidences of premature thelarce (PT) and central idiopathic precocious puberty (ICPP) are increasing. In this context, we wanted to evaluate the mycoestrogen exposure as triggering factor for premature sexual development. METHODS: The girls living in Mediterranean region of Turkey were divided in to three groups: control (N.=25; mean age: 6.45 ± 1), PT (N.=28; mean age: 6.86 ± 0.95) and ICPP (N.=25; mean age: 6.97 ± 0.87). Urinary ZEN levels were measured by using ELISA technique and were normalized by urinary creatinine levels. Body Mass Index (BMI) was evaluated and sex hormone levels were also measured. RESULTS: We found that urinary ZEN was detectable in ~81% of all samples and observed an increase of ~2-fold in PT and a significant increase ~2.8-fold in ICPP group vs. control. We did not find any significant correlations between urinary ZEN levels and BMI and sex hormones in any of the groups. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this is the first study evaluating urinary ZEN levels in PT and ICPP Turkish patients. We can postulate that ZEN exposure can contribute to the etiology of PT and PP; however further studies on large number of subjects are needed to confirm the present data.