Pubertal development in South-Hungarian boys and girls

Data on pubertal development in 1392 boys and 1494 girls from the cross-sectional Pécs Growth Study are reported. Genital, breast and pubic-hair development were rated according to Tanner (1962). The initiation of pubic-hair development in boys was 11.8 years and that of genital development was 12.0 years. Stage 2 of pubic-hair development (PH2) in boys occurred 1.7 years later than in girls. The mean time of different stages of pubertal development in boys was in the same range as in Eveleth and Tanner's study (1991). Stages 2, 3 and 4 for pubic-hair and breast development in Pécs girls occurred earlier than in Eveleth and Tanner's subjects (1991), while the mean time of stage 5 for both sexual characteristics occurred at a later age than reported in Eveleth and Tanner (1991). The age of menarche was 12.9 years in Pécs girls, which seems later by 0.1-0.6 years than in Western-European countries and earlier by 0.1-0.3 years than in South-European countries.