Talk:Adrenarche

Timing of adrenarche

The article states that adrenarche "typically occurs around 6 to 8 years of age." I believe that this is incorrect, and that the typical age of adrenarche is synchronous with or only slightly earlier than puberty. According to the Boston Childrens Hospital website, "premature adrenarche" is when adrenarche occurs before age 8 for girls or before age 9 for boys. Another authoritative site makes the same statement. A couple of sites do say 6 to 8 years, but these are non-authoritative sites that may be derived from this Wikipedia article. Herbsttag (talk) 16:39, 23 May 2014 (UTC)

An 2012 review article in the Journal of Endocrinology states: "Adrenarche is defined as the time in the human life history, at about 6–7 years of age, when the adrenal androgens (…) begin to increase in concentration in the circulation." (PJ Hornsby. Adrenarche: a cell biological perspective. Journal of Endocrinology (2012) 214, 113–119). This does not tally with the statement in the Wiki article, that adrenarche "typically occurs at around 10 to 11 years of age" (reference lacking).

In Semin Reprod Med. 2004 Nov;22(4):337-47, Havelock et.al. write: "This increase in adrenal androgen production can be detected around 6 years of age, and the phenotypic outcome primarily consists of the development of axillary and pubic hair (pubarche) that occurs at approximately 8 years of age." So here too, adrenarche is considered to occur long before "10-11 years". However, as an M.D. with pediatric experience, the statement that "development of axillary and pubic hair … occurs at approximately 8 years of age" strikes me as very strange.

There seems to be much confusion about adrenarche. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.56.99.175 (talk) 14:45, 7 March 2015 (UTC)