Antibiotics during infancy linked to early puberty in girls

The findings highlight the importance of using these medicines in infants appropriately and how early-life drug exposure could shape future health outcomes

Seoul: Girls given antibiotics during their first year of life, especially in the first three months, are more likely to enter puberty at an earlier age, according to new research.

The research, presented at the first Joint Congress between the European Society of Paediatric Endocrinology (ESPE) and the European Society of Endocrinology (ESE), found that the likelihood of early puberty was also higher among those exposed to a greater variety of antibiotic classes.

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The findings highlight the importance of using these medicines in infants appropriately and how early-life drug exposure could shape future health outcomes.

Early puberty, also known as central precocious puberty (CPP), is a condition characterised by the early onset of secondary sexual development in children. In girls this means before age 8 and, in boys, before age 9.

Early puberty mostly affects girls and often has no obvious cause, while it is less common in boys. Over the past few decades, early puberty has been on the rise and researchers are continuously investigating the potential contributing factors.

In this study, researchers from Hanyang University Guri Hospital and Hanyang University Medical Center analysed data on the antibiotic intake of 322,731 children, aged 0–12 months, in South Korea.

They followed these children until the girls turned 9 years old and the boys were 10, and found that girls who were prescribed antibiotics before 3 months of age were 33 per cent more likely to start puberty early.

The risk was 40 per cent higher in girls who received antibiotics before 14 days of age, and overall, the earlier the antibiotic exposure, the greater the risk of early puberty.

Additionally, girls who used five or more classes of antibiotics had a 22 per cent increased risk of early puberty compared to those who used two or fewer classes. No association was found between antibiotic intake and early puberty in boys.

“This population-based study is one of the first to explore this association between early-life antibiotic use, including the timing, frequency and number of classes, and in such a large national cohort of children,” said Dr Yunsoo Choe at Hanyang University Guri Hospital in South Korea, who was involved in the study.

The results may encourage doctors and parents to consider the long-term effects of antibiotics when making treatment decisions for young children, added Dr Choe.