Urinary Gonadotropins as Markers of Puberty in Girls and Boys During Late Childhood and Adolescence: Evidence From the SCAMP Cohort

Introduction Urinary gonadotropins measurement is a noninvasive method for evaluation of pubertal development and may have utility in population studies. Objectives To investigate the utility of urinary gonadotropins as a noninvasive biomarker of puberty in boys and girls. Methods School‐based adolescent cohort study with two time points for collecting school time urine samples and self‐reported assessment of puberty through the Pubertal Development Scale (PDS) approximately 2 years apart. FSH and LH were measured by two‐site sandwich immunoassay and corrected for creatinine excretion. Results A total of 941 samples from 741 girls and 1198 samples from 899 boys aged between 11 and 16 years were analysed. Samples were collected at a median age of 12.3 years (range 11.1, 13.2) and 14.2 years (13.4, 15.7). The annual change for uLH:FSH ratio was +0.028 (95% [0.021, 0.035]) and +0.035 (95% [0.027, 0.043]) in girls and boys, respectively. In a subgroup analysis of 59 samples from girls and 233 samples from boys, collected within 90 days of a PDS, were analysed for correlations with self‐reported pubertal development. In girls, uLH:FSH ratio showed positive correlations with self‐report breast development (r = 0.29), self‐report menarchal status(r = 0.35), composite PDS score (r = 0.39) and PDS‐derived pubertal categories (r = 0.45). In boys, uLH:FSH revealed negligible correlations with self‐reported pubertal development, PDS composite score and PDS‐derived pubertal categories. Conclusions An increase in urinary LH:FSH ratio is associated with an increase in self‐reported pubertal development in adolescent girls and represents a valid noninvasive biomarker of puberty in population studies.