Environmental factors and puberty timing : expert panel research needs

Serono Symposia International convened an expert panel to review the impact of
environmental influences on the regulation of pubertal onset and progression
while identifying critical data gaps and future research priorities. An expert
panel reviewed the literature on endocrine-disrupting chemicals, body size, and
puberty. The panel concluded that available experimental animal and human data
support a possible role of endocrine-disrupting chemicals and body size in
relation to alterations in pubertal onset and progression in boys and girls.
Critical data gaps prioritized for future research initiatives include (1)
etiologic research that focus on environmentally relevant levels of
endocrine-disrupting chemicals and body size in relation to normal puberty as
well as its variants, (2) exposure assessment of relevant endocrine-disrupting
chemicals during critical windows of human development, and (3) basic research to
identify the primary signal(s) for the onset of gonadotropin-releasing
hormone-dependent/central puberty and gonadotropin-releasing
hormone-independent/peripheral puberty. Prospective studies of couples who are
planning pregnancies or pregnant women are needed to capture the continuum of
exposures at critical windows while assessing a spectrum of pubertal markers as
outcomes. Coupled with comparative species studies, such research may provide
insight regarding the causal ordering of events that underlie pubertal onset and
progression and their role in the pathway of adult-onset disease.