What causes precocious puberty?

Risk factors

Factors that increase a child's risk of precocious puberty include:

• Being a girl. Girls are much more likely to develop precocious puberty.
• Being African-American. Precocious puberty appears to affect African-Americans more often than children of other races.
• Being obese. Children who are significantly overweight have a higher risk of developing precocious puberty.
• Being exposed to ... hormones. Coming in contact with an estrogen or testosterone cream or ointment, or other substances that contain these hormones (such as an adult's medication or dietary supplements), can increase your child's risk of developing precocious puberty.
• Having other medical conditions. Precocious puberty may be a complication of McCune-Albright syndrome or congenital adrenal hyperplasia — conditions that involve abnormal production of the male hormones (androgens). In rare cases, precocious puberty may also be associated with hypothyroidism.
• Having received radiation therapy of the central nervous system. Radiation treatment for tumors, leukemia or other conditions can increase the risk of precocious puberty.