Abstract / Summary
Background: Puberty is a biological transition from childhood to sexual maturity. Early diagnosis and treatment of central precocious puberty (CPP) can slow the pace of puberty‚ delay bone age from advancement, too dramatically‚ and lead to timely psychosocial benefit.Objective: To evaluate the clinical‚ endocrine‚ and neuroimaging features of children with CPP who presented to the Central Child Teaching Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq.Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional observational study‚ 63 children in the Pediatric Endocrinology Outpatient Clinic in the Central Child Teaching Hospital in Baghdad between January 1st and July 31st of, 2025, were enrolled. Clinical examination‚ Tanner staging‚ anthropometric data‚ bone age estimation‚ adult height prediction, and hormonal evaluation [Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) stimulation test] were conducted in all patients. Pelvic ultrasonography was done in girls. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain was performed based on clinical indications.Results: Females constituted 54 cases (85.7%). Idiopathic CPP was the predominant etiology overall (73.0%), occurring mainly in females (83.3%), whereas central nervous system (CNS) related causes were significantly more common in males (55.5%) compared with females (12.9%) (P-value = 0.0001). Males presented at a younger age (5.05 ± 2.66 vs. 7.44 ± 1.91 years; P-value = 0.002) and had significantly earlier pubertal onset (3.62 ± 2.40 vs. 6.98 ± 1.90 years; P-value < 0.001). Bone age showed a significant inverse correlation with predicted adult height (r = −0.272, P-value = 0.033).Conclusions: CPP mainly affects girls, is typically idiopathic, while boys more often have CNS-related causes and earlier onset. Advanced bone age is common and inversely related to predicted adult height.