Disorders of puberty in young girls: How early is too early and how late is too late?

Precocious and delayed puberty are statistical definitions, which are initially based on anthropological data in relation to the total population and mathematical calculations. They do not automatically imply a pathology. Besides normal variations a large number of very different underlying disorders can result in alteration of the onset and/or course of pubertal development. These range from idiopathic disturbances, endocrinological and immunological diseases, genetic variations and tumors up to psychosomatic and psychiatric diseases. In this article, the emphasis is on the differential diagnostics between the very much more common and non-pathological normal variations and the most important diseases that need further clarification and subsequent treatment. © 2017, Springer Medizin Verlag GmbH.